Arts & Entertainment
Opera With A
Jewish Flavor
MOT's fall season includes Verdi's Nabucco, Sondheim's A Little Night Music.
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
D
etroit-area Jewish opera lovers
will have an opera of their own
to enjoy this fall.
Michigan Opera Theatre will open its
2009-2010 season at the Detroit Opera
House Saturday, Oct. 17, with its first-ever
production of Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco,
inspired by the Old Testament story about
the plight of the Jewish people during the
time of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
"This is the first time we've presented
a main-stage opera [focusing on] Jewish
content:' said MOT General Director David
DiChiera. "We're committed to performing
works that represent the diverse cultural
backgrounds of the region. Nabucco is not
only a piece of Jewish history; it's also a
touching and moving work of theatrical
and musical art."
DiChiera said the current "difficult eco-
nomic climate" is forcing MOT to cut its
customary main-stage opera productions
from five to four a year, and Nabucco will be
performed only three times to avoid requir-
ing a second cast. The ailing economy has
reduced MOT subscription sales, trimmed
philanthropic donations and furloughed
opera house employees in August.
Ford Motor Company is sponsoring the
fall season, the only one of the Detroit
Three automakers to "maintain MOT
financial support at that level."
Nabucco (short for Nebuchadnezzar),
set in sixth century B.C.E. in Jerusalem
and Babylon, is the third of Verdi's 28
operas. It permanently established his
reputation as a composer in 1842.
"It covers some of the usual opera
themes — forbidden love, hidden iden-
tity, insanity, death by poison and even
religious epiphany:' said opera expert
Wallace Peace, a college history professor
who gives pre-opera lectures at the opera
house. "Verdi had just lost two children,
then his wife, and he was in bad shape; the
themes were reflected in his work."
The Nabucco story is another case of the
Jewish people coming up against an arch-
villain but eventually gaining their free-
dom. The opera describes the plight of the
Leslie Uggams, as Desiree, will perform
"Send in the Clowns," and Ron Raines is
Fredrik in Stephen Sondheim's A Little
Night Music.
A scene from Nabucco, a biblical love triangle in four acts
Jewish people as they are assaulted and
exiled from their homeland by the king.
During a battle to protect Jerusalem
from invasion, the king's two daughters,
Fenena and the jealous Abigaille, both fall
in love with the same enemy — the king
of Israel's nephew, Ishmaele.
"But he loves Fenena, which doesn't sit
too well with the jealous Abigaille, who also
learns her real mother is a slave,' said Peace.
Italian baritone Marco di Felice will
perform the role of Nabucco. Making their
MOT debuts will be soprano Francesca
Patane in the difficult role of Abigaille and
tenor Noah Stewart as Ishmaele.
With several melodic choral composi-
tions, the four-act opera features the "cho-
rus of the Hebrew slaves"( Va pensiero),
one of the most famous operatic choral
works ever performed. It was the unof-
ficial anthem to unite the nation of Italy
during the 19th century and for years
was the only encore New York's famed
Metropolitan Opera would allow.
The second production of MOT's fall
season is by Jewish composer-lyricist
Stephen Sondheim. A Little Night Music
is about as close to an opera as any
Broadway musical can get, and MOT was
the first American opera company to per-
form it in 1983.
Now enjoying renewed popularity, Night
Music will come to the opera house Nov. 14-
22. It is the first time since 1992 that MOT
will present a musical during the main-
stage opera season. The show also returns
to Broadway in December, starring Angela
Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Tony Award-winning singer-actress
Leslie Uggams, 66, gets the starring role
Michigan Opera Theatre performs Nabucco 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17; 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 21; and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24. A Little Night Music will
be presented 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov.14; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov.18; 7:30
p.m. Friday, Nov. 20; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22.
All performances are at the Detroit Opera House,1526 Broadway, in downtown
Detroit. Tickets are $29-$121 and are available by calling (313) 237-7464 or (800)
745-3000, or online at www.MichiganOpera.org or www.ticketmaster.com .
in the MOT version as Desiree Armfeldt,
opposite Ron Raines as Fredrik.
Set in 1901 Sweden, Night Music is
based on the movie Smiles of a Summer
Night by Swedish director Ingmar
Bergman, which in turn was inspired by
the 1948 play Ring Round the Moon by
French playwright Jean Anouilh.
Sondheim and original producer-direc-
tor Harold Prince wanted to do the show
as a "musical masque,' Prince said,"[with]
people of all ages, from a child to an old
woman who's seen it all; and there's lots of
foolish.crises" revolving around love and
the pursuit of old flames. The main charac-
ters chase after one another, fall in love with
the wrong people and behave in the man-
ner of normally befuddled human beings
groping through an emotional maze.
Uggams should have no trouble with the
show's most famous song, the haunting
ballad "Send in the Clowns."
Sondheim wrote it for British actress
Glynis Johns, who played Desiree in the
musical's 1973 Broadway debut. Johns,
couldn't sing a lick:' quipped Peace,
"and [it] allowed her to half-talk her way
through it."
In fact, Night Music is known as the
"waltz musical" because Sondheim wrote
most of the music in three-quarter waltz
time. Some of the musical's other songs
are "The Glamorous Life,""You Must Meet
My Wife,""Every Day a Little Death" and
"In Praise of Women."
The two operas in MOT's spring season
are Mozart's Don Giovanni, April 10-18,
and Puccini's Tosca, May 15-23. ❑
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October 8 2009
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