OF MICE AND MEN

The Tri-Valley’s own professional opera company, Livermore Valley Opera (LVO), opens its 32nd season with Carlisle Floyd’s OF MICE AND MEN, based on the novella by John Steinbeck. This brilliant stage production, performed by a superb cast of singers, portrays a tragic American story of shattered dreams. It opens October 7 at the Bankhead Theater, the first of four performances, and will be sung in English with English supertitles.

Stage Director Marc Jacobs will bring the forceful tale of two depression-era farm workers, George and Lennie, whose dream of owning their own land one day ends in tragedy. Carlisle Floyd, arguably the greatest of America’s 20th Century opera composers, adapts to the operatic stage a vivid representation of John Steinbeck’s story that will grip audiences with its powerful music and timeless themes. In the opinion of the late composer himself, this is his greatest operatic achievement.

“What Carlisle Floyd has done with his magnificent score is to heighten every emotional moment,” adds Jacobs. “It’s an opera about loneliness, connection and the power of friendship, and it requires a cast of great singers who are also great actors. Luckily we have that in this cast.”

“We have assembled a stellar cast,” says Erie Mills, LVO’s Artistic Director, “and in the intimacy of the Bankhead Theater, you will be swept back in time.”