Little Women

Since it’s 1998 premiere by the Houston Grand Opera, Mark Adamo’s first opera, Little Women, has joined the short list of most produced American operas with over twenty productions in the United States and abroad. Adamo based his two-act, eight-scene opera on the classic novel of the same title by Louisa May Alcott set during the U.S. Civil War. The opera focuses on three central events from the Civil War-era coming-of-age tale of the four March sisters -- Meg's Wedding, Laurie's infatuation with Jo, and Beth's death - and unifies them dramatically with music.

Little Women features a cast of debut artists including Audrey Babcock (Santa Fe Opera/Seattle Opera/ Wolf Trap Opera) as Jo; Marc Schreiner (Syracuse Opera/Toledo Opera) as Laurie; Anne-Carolyn Bird (Metropolitan Opera/ Wolf Trap Opera/2007 Sullivan Foundation Winner) as Beth; Katrina Thurman (Opera National de Lyon/Glimmerglass Opera/ Oper Bonn) as Amy; Leah Wool (Metropolitan Opera/Opera Theatre of St. Louis/Gotham Opera) as Meg; and Alexander Tall (New York City Opera/ Opera Company of Philadelphia/ San Francisco Opera) as John Brooke. The production will be conceived and directed by Kay Walker Castaldo, who will also make her Syracuse Opera debut. Director of Music Douglas Kinney Frost will conduct the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

Little Women is a coming-of-age story about the young March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, with Jo at its heart. The opera begins with a view of the past, when life for Jo was simple and she and her sisters were close. Much to her dismay, life becomes complicated. Meg, the eldest, marries. Younger sister Beth grows ill. Fearful of putting love or her own ambitions before her devotion to her sisters, Jo pushes away two would-be suitors, driving one into the arms of her youngest sister, Amy, and soon finds herself alone. Realizing that nothing she does can stop the world from changing, Jo begins to accept that she must let go of the past, celebrate her loved ones for what and who they were, and release them to what they are now.

Little Women will be sung in English with projected English titles. Performances are Friday, May 1, 2009 at 8:00pm and Sunday, May 3, 2009, at 2:30pm in the Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater of the John H. Mulroy Civic Center Theaters at Oncenter.