Fire Shut Up in My Bones

The 2019 premiere opened to mixed reviews, and in subsequent years critics have tended to focus on the historical importance of the 2021 Metropolitan Opera production.

[2] He is also a noted film composer and has been nominated twice for Academy Award for Best Original Score, for Spike Lee movies BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods.

[6] Whilst the opera's libretto and narrative reflect the content and themes of Blow's memoir, it is not a comprehensive retelling of the book.

As noted by Patricia J. Williams in a review of the book: "He grows up amid mean if not absolute poverty; he is molested both by a cousin and by an uncle; his father is distant, an alcoholic; and his parents separate under circumstances that involve his mother waving a gun about on more than one occasion".

[13] Fire Shut Up in My Bones had not been intended as a season opener at the Metropolitan Opera, but general manager Peter Gelb stated that the Black Lives Matter movement had informed his decision to move the piece to such a prominent slot.

[19] Fire Shut Up in My Bones returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 2024, with the bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Charles, with Evan Rogister conducting.

Giovanni Russonello and Seth Colter Walls of the New York Times wrote that the music is generally based on Italian opera, but Blanchard's jazz influence is also audible.

"[23] Writing in a review of the 2024 revival, Kevin Ng felt "Blanchard’s score deftly integrates jazz and gospel into an operatic framework".

[24] Writing in Bachtrack in a review of the 2024 production, Susan Stemplesk wrote that the score contains "no memorable melodies", calling it "plodding" and "fundamentally bland".

Describing the music, she wrote she could find nothing to praise other than "some toe-tapping tunes in a melodramatic mélange of jazz, blues and gospel with traces of big band brass."

[25] Lawrence A. Johnson had expressed similar opinions in his review of the 2022 Chicago production, saying that the "almost unrelievedly bland" score is "cast in a kind of noodling jazz-piano lounge style".

[26] Reviewing the premiere for the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini described the music variety of Blanchard's score: "Restless vocal lines shift from plaintive lyrical phrases, to sputtered outbursts, to a style that seems a jazz equivalent of Italianate arioso".

Though noting that the opera tends to "melodramatic excess", Tommaisini praised the "brilliantly simple, evocative production", and singled out Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines in leading roles as "ravishing" and "terrifyingly volatile" respectively.

[27] For the Chicago Classical Review, John van Rhein wrote that the premiere was "a major cultural event for St Louis", and felt that it "received a worthy production" by the artistic director James Robinson.

Van Rhein was less minded to praise the opera as a drama, writing "for all their good intentions the composer and librettist miss the beating heart of the book".

[30] Writing for Vulture, critic Justin Davidson opined in an otherwise positive review that "in their enthusiasm, composer and conductor sometimes seem to have forgotten about the singers, who struggle to be heard over all the engaging churn".

[32] Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune praised Liverman, who retained the lead role of Charles, describing his performance as having an "aching vulnerability".

Woolfe praised Ryan Speedo Green in the recast lead role of Charles, calling his tone "focused and secure".

Ng felt Ryan Speedo Green succeeded as Charles (having played a minor role in the previous Met Opera production of Fire) saying his "voice of Wagnerian proportions" effectively conveyed both rage and vulnerability, and Ng wrote also praised Latonia Moore as Charles's mother, writing that her "voluptuous, richly coloured soprano" brought depth to her character.

The fraternity step dance in Act III was described as a standout moment, eliciting an "enthusiasm rarely heard in the Met's auditorium."

Composer Terence Blanchard performing in Rotterdam in 2014
The story is based on the memoir of journalist Charles M. Blow (pictured)
Angel Blue received praise for her role in the 2021 Met Opera production