Highway 1, USA (Still)

Highway 1, USA is an American opera in one act with music by William Grant Still and libretto by Verna Arvey.

Still subsequently revised the opera into its final form, in one act divided into two scenes, with the new title Highway 1, USA.

[3] The opera received its premiere at Coral Gables High School on 11 May 1963, Still's 68th birthday, under the auspices of that year's 'Festival of American Music' of the University of Miami, to a favourable reception.

The opera is set in the present day at a gasoline filling station in a small town along a major American thoroughfare.

Bob is going to attend the graduation while Mary (accompanied by an elderly neighbor, Aunt Lou) stays behind to take care of the business.

After the church committee has come to felicitate Bob and has gone with him to the railroad station, Mary tells Aunt Lou of her hatred for Nate and all he has made them suffer and deny themselves.

When Nate comes for his breakfast, he is revealed as an egotistical, neurotic, stupid individual who mistakes Mary's sarcasm for flattery and makes passionate love to her.