Scuttled By COVID In 2020, Lyric Stage Presents 'Suor Angelica'

MADISON, CT — As the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip in the winter of 2020, among the events that were scuttled was the Madison Lyric Stage production of Puccini’s opera Suor Angelica.

Originally set for late March into early April 2020 performances, the operas were postponed to June. But then, given the COVID-19 pandemic's continued hold, the show was canceled.

"Please know we are committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for our patrons, volunteers and artists. You are all like family to us. Your safety and well-being are always our top priorities," the theater posted on Facebook.

Now, more than a year later, the professional theater has had a successful main stage season, albeit outdoors under a large tent.

And also back is the Puccini opera.

As its final production of the season, Suor Angelica will be staged for eight performances Sept. 9 through Sept. 19 outdoors under a large tent on the grounds of Madison’s Deacon John Grave House.

The evening will open with Schoenberg’s Erwartung, and will be set within the confines of the “Grave House Asylum” run by the fictional Sisters of Mercy.

"By pairing these operatic pieces, the performance will delve into the individual stories of two women, each thrust into the mental health system of Europe in the year 1909," the Lyric noted in a news release. "The evening will explore the dire consequences these two women separately faced when they rejected the social mores of their time."

Madison Lyric Stage artistic director Marc Deaton explained.

“Our opera evening champions the great music drama from two diverse master composers of the 20th century – the romantic Italian Giacomo Puccini and Arnold Schoenberg, the Viennese father of atonality – so completely different in their musical styles, yet composing during the same years,” Deaton said. “By pairing these two works, and setting them within an asylum, we hope to call attention to mental health issues. Even though perceptions of mental illness were quite different at the time these pieces were composed, there are still lessons to be learned today about human cruelty, either intentional or through careless negligence.”

Puccini’s much-loved one-act opera Suor Angelica (“Sister Angelica”) is known to contain moments of harrowing drama and unequaled redemptive beauty. Sister Angelica, a Tuscan noblewoman, has been living in a convent, where she was sent by her aristocratic family for having a child without being married. For seven years, she has been waiting in vain for her family or friends to visit. Finally, Angelica’s aunt, the cruel Princess, comes to reveal the fate of the child she was forced to give away, and to ask her to sign away all rights to her inheritance. The news is unbearable to Angelica, and the story follows her emotional journey through tragic loss and redemption.

Suor Angelica makes up the second of Puccini’s set of three one-act operas called Il trittico (The Triptych), the others being Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi. Puccini, composer of La Boheme and Madame Butterfly, referred to Suor Angelica as his favorite of these three Triptych pieces.

Schoenberg’s Erwartung (“Expectation”) is a one-act monodrama that follows a lone woman through the forest in search of a lost lover. Erwartung seems to relate a dream – or probably a nightmare. The protagonist of this taut, half-hour drama is an unnamed woman, wandering under a moonlit sky, looking for a lover who might be a betrayer. Ultimately, the lover’s blood-stained body is found – but who has killed him, and for what reason, remains unclear.

Suor Angelica will be performed in Italian with English supertitles; Erwartung will be performed in English, in a translation by Deaton.

Allison Waggener stars as Sister Angelica, leading an all-female cast of thirteen. Allison Lindsay stars as the Inmate in Erwartung, with Deaton as the Doctor.

Deaton also directs both pieces.

Tickets are $50 and can be purchased by visiting madisonlyricstage.org or by calling 203-215-6329. The Deacon John Grave House is located at 581 Boston Post Road in Madison.

Tenting for Madison Lyric Stage’s 2021 outdoor season is being supplied by Taylor Rental of Branford and Orange.

Madison Lyric Stage is supported in part by generous gifts from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Guilford Savings Bank, the Maureen E. and Peter F. Dalton Fund of The Madison Foundation, and the New Alliance Foundation, along with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Madison Lyric Stage is an award-winning, non-profit arts collective serving Connecticut. Its mission is to expand participation in the arts by presenting accessible, inclusive and affordable professional-quality opera, musical theater and drama.

For more information about Madison Lyric Stage, visit madisonlyricstage.org.