Dead Man Walking is the first opera composed by American Jake Heggie, with a libretto by playwright Terrence McNally.

Sets, costumes and lighting were designed by Michael Yeargan, Sam Fleming, and Jennifer Tipton, respectively.

Susan Graham created the role of Sister Helen, with John Packard as Joseph De Rocher (a composite of Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie).

The Canadian premiere took place in January 2006 in Calgary, Alberta, with Daniel Okulitch in the role of Joseph De Rocher.

[5] The UK staged premiere took place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in May 2019, with Carolyn Holt as Sister Helen and Mark Nathan as Joseph de Rocher.

The production, created by director Tomer Zvulun, traveled to The Atlanta Opera in March 2019, where it was performed by an all-star cast, including Jamie Barton, Michael Mayes, Maria Zifchak, Jay Hunter Morris, Kevin Burdette and Karen Slack.

The boy continues struggling until Anthony shoots him once, at the base of the skull, execution-style; this causes the girl to scream.

After the children leave, Helen reveals to her colleagues that she has heard from an inmate on death row (Joseph de Rocher) with whom she has been corresponding.

She is stopped by a motorcycle policeman for speeding, but he lets her off with a warning after a short humorous soliloquy; "I never gave a ticket to a nun before.

They converse; he asks her to speak at the pardon board hearing on his behalf to have his sentence commuted to life.

Scene 8: The courthouse parking lot The four parents of De Rocher's victims speak angrily to his mother and to Sister Helen, who tries to calm both sides.

Scene 9: Death Row visiting room De Rocher is convinced that Helen has abandoned him; she enters, late, and tells him that she has not and will not.

Scene 10: The prison waiting room Helen is trying to find money to buy food from the vending machine, having forgotten to eat.

She begins to hear the voices, in her head, of the parents, the children at Hope House, Father Grenville, the motorcycle policeman, Warden Benton, and her colleagues, all telling her to stop trying to help De Rocher.

The warden enters to tell her that the governor has refused to act to save him, and gives Helen some money for the machine.

De Rocher and Sister Helen are talking; they discover they share a common love for Elvis.

One of them, Owen Hart, takes her aside and confesses that he is less sure of what he wants now than he was; he tells her that he and his wife have separated due to the stress they have felt.

Scene 6/7: Joseph's holding cell Helen and De Rocher converse for the last time; she asks him to confess to the murders.

De Rocher dies thanking Helen once again for her love; the opera ends as she stands over his body and sings her hymn one last time.

[15] Although not all of it has been set to music, McNally gave the libretto to Heggie with the express instructions to use whatever portions of it he felt necessary, and to discard the rest.