Michael Brown. Eric Garner. George Floyd.
Sadly, we all know those names and others like them: Black men who were killed at the hands of police officers.
A five-year-old opera, “Blue,” tackles this tragedy head-on with a simple yet weighty story about a Black couple in Harlem whose 16-year-old boy dies in similar fashion. The boy is given no name. He is simply known as “The Son” — a young everyman.
“Blue” won the 2020 Award for the best new opera from the Music Critics Association of North America. Its local premiere, which opened Saturday at Lyric Opera of Chicago and runs through Dec. 1, forcefully reinforces that choice.
The 2½-hour work is one of a notable trio of major African American operas that opened in the summer of 2019: this one, which debuted at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, as well as Anthony Davis’ “The Central Park Five” and Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” seen at Lyric in March-April 2022.
The libretto by Tazewell Thompson, an African American playwright and director, wears its Blackness boldly and proudly. It is provocative, blunt, and even raw, yet it also manages to be affecting and ultimately powerfully redemptive.
Opera is sometimes seen an anachronistic throwback to previous centuries, but this biting work makes clear that it is still a vital, relevant art form that can confront contemporary sociopolitical themes in an impactful and meaningful way.
Though wariness and fear run throughout this opera, it opens on a hopeful note as the couple get married and have a baby. It quickly jumps 16 years, the first half culminating with a contentious yet affecting scene in which the rebellious son furiously lashes out at his father for being a cop.
The son’s death is not shown, a smart choice by the creators that allows the audiences to imagine the scene and amplifies the universality of such shootings. The second half deals with the agony of the parents — the father vowing vengeance at first but the two eventually finding some solace through their friends and church.
“Blue” is a superbly balanced and interwoven ensemble piece with just 10 total performers, essentially a chamber opera. The cast comprises the three-member family, three friends of the mother and three friends and police colleagues of the father and a reverend.
Composer Jeanine Tesori, who has written four operas and an assortment of musicals, clearly knows how to write for the voice, providing striking arias and wonderful duets and quartets, with exquisite, multi-layered harmonies. She brings nine of the singers together in a stirring chorale at the funeral — one of the opera’s vocal high points.
Although there are hints of gospel and the blues, Tesori’s expressive music generally stays within a solidly tonal, mainstream classical idiom, with often rich orchestrations, an array of percussion (which often helps convey the darker moods) and ample use of the piano (Michael Banwarth).
As is necessary in a tight, intimate work like this, the compact cast is solid from top to bottom, with each adding his or her own essential spark. Tenor Travon D. Walker, who is in his second year at Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center and seems destined for a significant career, potently conveys The Son’s anger and resentment in his one big scene at the end of Act 1.
Bass Kenneth Kellogg, who is making his Lyric debut, is a fine singer with a big, barrel-like voice, but he might be an even better actor, who as much with body language and facial expressions as words tellingly reveals the inner turmoil and pain of The Father.
Mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams has appeared in five previous roles at Lyric and she makes a memorable return here. Although Tesori’s writing gives her some soaring lines, most compelling is the penetrating directness and honesty of her singing, which brings depth and humanity to The Mother.
Joseph Young conducted “Blue” previously at the Washington (D.C.) National Opera, and he clearly knows his way around the score, leading with a strong, sure hand, bringing out the best from both the singers and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.
Thompson doubles as the director, and he does not over-complicate things but instead stays out of the way and lets his story unfold in a straightforward, down-to-earth way. To his credit and that of the performers, all the characters come across as believable and relatable.
In this co-production with the Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera, Donald Eastman’s sets are simple like the story and effective enough. The backdrop for the whole opera is a kind of a wall relief, depicting a row of historical Harlem apartment buildings, with colored lighting providing atmospheric effects. Locations are suggested with a few pieces of rudimentary furniture — a long table and few beer glasses for a bar or a bed, chair and desk for a bedroom.
The big question, of course, is whether an opera that is so much of its time can transcend its time. Only the future will tell.
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