Trouble in Tahiti

Bernstein‘s Trouble in Tahiti, another example from that great composer of the fusion of popular and operatic musical styles, concerns the domestic life of an archetypal all-American husband and wife. The Jazz Trio spends the opera singing the praises of Suburbia as the new American paradise, but what goes on inside the home is far from perfect. The husband, Sam, has a questionable relationship with his secretary, goes to the gym instead of watching his son’s play, would do anything to put off the moment of coming home to his wife. Dinah sees a shrink, is desperately unhappy, and loses herself by going alone to the pictures, to see Trouble in Tahiti – a film which she recognises is ridiculous but at least offers her some form of escape.