THE OPERA SUSANNAH, based on the addition to Daniel in the Apocrypha, has opened in Rochester:

'Susannah' opens at Eastman (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)


By John Pitcher
Staff music critic

(April 2, 2004) � One of the longest running hits in the history of American opera is on stage at the Eastman Theatre, and it�s helping the Eastman Opera Theatre close out its 2003-04 season on a glorious high note.

Carlisle Floyd�s Susannah, which opened Thursday, is a little opera � at a mere two hours it�s positively bite-sized by opera standards � but it�s a miraculous one that packs an enormous emotional punch. It boasts some of the most complex and memorable characters in the entire opera repertoire, and its melodies are as sweet and lyrical as any composed by Puccini.

Floyd based his opera on the apocryphal biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, updating and Americanizing it by setting it in a fictional Bible Belt town called New Hope Valley, Tenn. Susannah is a genuinely good and spirited teenager who lives in the mountains with her older brother, Sam, a sweet and passive drunkard that Floyd describes as an �uncomprehended poet and recluse.�

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