World Premiere at La MaMa Theater on June 28th & 29th, 2025.

The Tin Angel Opera, written to a libretto by Paul Pines and based on his widely acclaimed novel of the same name, with music by award-winning composer Daniel Asia, is set in the edgy world of a NYC downtown Bowery jazz club, where a unique cast of characters play out their dramatic story as a call for redemption.The inspiration behind the story is The Tin Palace, the real-life New York City’s jazz mecca of the 70s, founded by Paul Pines in 1973.

The Tin Angel is a grand opera in the tradition of Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Carlisle Floyd, great American composers who incorporated popular folk songs and jazz styles into serious works with an unmistakably American flavor. Daniel Asia (music) and Paul Pines (libretto) have based the story on Pines’ own hit novel from 1982, and it’s a story unlike any other in opera, combining the American immigrant experience with the energy and suspense of a detective thriller. It incorporates elements of jazz into serious art music in a tale of love, revenge, and redemption set in the dangerous, underground world of a Bowery nightclub.

The Synopsis

The Tin Angel Opera, a new work of musical theatre, is a murder mystery set in The Tin Angel Jazz Club. It is inspired by the real-life Tin Palace, once a hotbed of New York City’s music, nightlife, and multi-dimensional social life.

The production is anchored by Daniel Asia’s sublime music, which skillfully places the jazz-opera genre in the setting of a dramatic no-man’s land. Pablo Waitz, owner of the club, has lost his business partner, Ponce, along with the club’s cash reserves in a mysterious murder and drug deal gone awry. Outside on the streets, the dispossessed own New York City’s East Village, while inside, musicians, artists, cops, and hustlers, connect with the magical quality of the music.

Pablo’s lover and Ponce’s sister, Maria, while mourning the loss of her brother, wants them to leave the 70s squalor of the Bowery.

Pablo is driven to recover the lost money and solve the mystery of his friend’s violent death. Most of all, he desperately hopes to keep The Tin Angel alive.

Pablo’s late father, who survived the Holocaust, walks the Bowery battlements questioning his son’s dedication to this dissolute, shadowy world. His father is joined by Ponce, now also a troubled ghost, and both haunt Pablo.

The questions raised in this opera are timeless:

How do we find redemption? 
How do we make a life out of love and loss?
How do we keep hope and find light in absolute darkness?