In presenting the world premiere of The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success) at the Walker this April, Cynthia Hopkins completes a trilogy of music-theater journeys that have taken this singer/performer/director—and her devoted audiences—farther and farther afield. First there was the earthy, Southern-gothic road tale_ Accidental Nostalgia_ in 2005, whose narrator steals an identity and…

There is singing, dancing, music, theater. There is impassioned oratory (and, possibly, some less charismatic speakers). There are urgent messages of social import, and opportunities for self-improvement. There are groups of locals coming together in a special, even sacred place to feel a sense of belonging, or to open themselves to transformation—spiritually, morally, intellectually. There is ceremony and…