Gruber.
Yes, that Gruber. The infamous villain from The Detective series (especially, Nothing Lasts Forever, where he is better known as 'Hans Gruber'), who became a household name in the movie, Die Hard (1988), after being played impeccably by Alan Rickman.
Fast-forward. New time. New interpretation. New actor.
Brock Vickers[a] will bring his acting chops and athletic background (he was a former collegiate baseball player) to the role of Gunyo 'Little Gun' Gruber in my 🧼opera, Easter. Let's keep our fingers crossed in hoping that we make Roderick Thorp and Alan Rickman proud.
We know that (according to the literature), despite his gruesome exterior, Gruber did what he did (perhaps not in the manner that he did it) because he was a freedom fighter for the underdog. Ironically, he attacked the Klaxon corporation because he thought - thanks to his independent leftist leanings - that the company wasn't doing enough to help the less fortunate in the South American country from which it was exploiting. In that sense, he (as the leader of a terrorist group) was a self-proclaimed Robin Hood. Here, not so much.
"I like magic. Doesn't everybody enjoy a good trick? You can't fault me for knowing the truth: that greed works in reverse; no one is as rich as they want to be, only as poor as they claim to be." - Gunyo Gruber
Our first encounter with Gruber comes early in ChordN, where he is an incredibly condescending Pinkerton contractor working alongside Lily in her pod (= Lily, Gruber, Ellis) on behalf of shipping magnate, Maundy Lindros, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Normally, Maundy wouldn't need the services of someone like a Gruber, who is a versatile mercenary employed by her business to head general counsel as she battles legal difficulties put forth by the incoming competitor, Dwight Mann and his company, Nile, LLC, because she's made due just fine these past forty years with smart management to her credit. But the days are no longer quotidian. This is the first time in her career that Maundy has had to operate from a position of apparent weakness - a challenge she does not relish by any means - as she engages with her longtime political rival, Ember Libitina, in the civic sphere.
During this unusually busy Eastertide, Gruber's pod is tasked with representing Delaware Valley's most notorious kingpin, Theo, who's currently caught up in a legal quagmire not of his own doing (hint). Gunyo, specifcially, has the skillset (and some backdoor connections) to 'magically' bend the law in the drug lord's favor, but for a 'small' price.
Some call him "Little Gun"*, even though he stands an imposing 6'3''.I made up the word 'gunyo' to mean 'little gun' in some faux Yiddish. I doubt someone would name their kid that, but it works well here (I'm very proud of it, too😁), taking into consideration that Gruber's first name in the book was actually Anton ("Little Tony the Red"), not Hans. He's nice when he has to be, the jobs call for it. Just know that Gruber is a dangerous thirty (30+) year-old German-born double agent for the IDF. He was hired to do a job - and he'll do it well - but can he really outmaneuver Ms. Lindros at her own game? We have four (4) chords to do a character study and learn his fate, as Gruber starts out as a lightweight, but becomes a major player by ChordH of the opera.