Opera Theatre of St. Louis has what is called a "Festival Season". Every year from the end of May to the end of June it presents four operas, a different opera on each night. There is a tent on the lawn where opera-goers can picnic before the opera, grab drinks at intermission and mingle with the cast after the opera.
Back when I used to curate a largish group of season ticket holders I would send out an email each year describing the four operas for the season. There were always the two "big draw" operas - old standards that the public loved and would draw the big crowds. La Boheme. La Traviata. This year they are Don Pasquale and Die Fledermaus. There was always one opera that I labeled "rarely performed" - although that wasn't entirely accurate. They are better described as operas performed less than the big draws. They tended to be older. Last year it was a Handel opera.
Then there was the fourth opera, the "modern opera". Something written in the 20th and now the 21st century. Often the best thing we could say about the modern opera was that it was short.
But about 10 or 15 years ago things began to change. As we moved into the 21st century the "modern operas" began to be more melodic and began to have interesting stories. Opera Theatre began to commission modern operas and also premiered operas that it didn't commission. Two operas by Terence Blanchard were premiered at Opera Theatre and ended up being performed in New York at the Metropolitan Opera. I've now grown to look forward to the modern opera each season.
This year's "modern opera" is a world premier opera called This House and it is one of the best operas (not just one of the best "modern operas") that I've ever seen produced at Opera Theatre. In the story, Zoe Walker returns, with her husband, to the Harlem brownstone owned by her family since the 1920's. He believes that, now that she is pregnant, this will be a good family home for them. Zoe isn't sure and asks to go into the house alone while he goes to get coffee. In the house she asks her mother and brother if they would be open to a renovation of the house. But the house is filled with the ghosts of family who lived there in the past and Zoe must face some truths that she was either never told or has blocked out from her memories. As the librettists write in the program, the Walker family is tethered to the brownstone but it is unclear if they are protectors or prisoners.
The story was begun by Ruby Aiyo Gerber who wrote it as a play while she was getting her undergraduate degree at Brown University during the pandemic. She then worked on the libretto with her mother, Lynn Nottage. Nottage is the only woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice - first in 2009 for Ruined and next in 2017 for Sweat. Nottage seems to give credit to the poetry of the lyrics to her daughter. The composer gives credit to Nottage's play writing experience for creating a scaffold that keeps the narrative taut.
The composer is Ricky Ian Gordon. Although the music is "operatic" he uses different themes for the many characters (ghosts of the past) and brings in jazz, ragtime, hints at popular music and other genres of the 20th century. He says it is a musical walk through the last 100 years of American music. At a pre-opera lecture, the speaker said that Gordon orchestrated the music himself (although Gordon says he worked together with someone else) and said that the orchestrations are "very cinematic", and I agree.
I must commend the cast who not only sang beautifully but had acting chops equal to any dramatic repertory company. Briana Hunter sang Zoe beautifully and carried us along in her story. Adrienne Danrich, originally from St. Louis, was the mother Ida and held my eyes even when she was sitting in a corner knitting. Justin Austin was Zoe's twin brother Lindon. I saw him last year as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and I think he has a long career ahead of him. And the remainder of the large cast was equally as good.
There are surprises in the story, some predictable and some not. I will not give any spoilers but I will say that had tears in my eyes as the story neared its end.
There is one more performance on June 29 and anyone nearby should try to see it. But I also have no doubt that this opera will be picked up by other opera companies around the country and probably the Met.
