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A Vietnam veteran watched cable television at his home outside of Chicago when news was to change his life. Gerald “Mac” McDonald, seriously ill with hepatitis C which he had contracted in service, had not been aware of the Jewish ancestry of his family and his claim on a large collection of art pillaged by the Nazis so far.
Fighting his illness, Mac went to Europe to return to the steps of one of his ancestors during the Holocaust and see the permanent paintings of the family in Prague. Now, more than 20 years later, its history has become a thin chamber opera, an hour.
Given his first in Chicago last year, Before everything becomes dark Has music by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's words. It was released both as a film and in this audio version for digital download only.
The opera opens with a prologue representing the ancestor of Mac in Prague, using the music of Jewish composers of the 1930s. Then, the action moves to Mac itself in Chicago and in its European trip. Heggie's music begins as a commercial story, but when Mac sees the paintings for the first time, it between another world, communicating with an unknown ancestor in a spirit of disbelief and shared pain.
Ryan McKinny takes the game of Mac, Megan Marino the other three roles, and Joseph Mechavich leads Sovers' music together. For an opera exploring art and memory, and reconcile with the tragic past of a family, Before everything becomes dark behaves a lot in a short period of time.
★★★★ ☆
“ Jake Heggie: Before All Go Go Dark '' is published by Euroarts
