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. ❑ (( October 8 2009 51