30 September 2023
Journey North Opera Company takes a piercing look at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in the Minnesota premiere of “Dark Sisters,” performing at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis this weekend. The high notes — performed by soprano Sarah Kuhlmann and flute/piccolo player Eun Cho — pierce as well, punctuating the docudrama opera with notes that keep the listener at attention.
Composer Nico Muhly, based in New York, might be familiar for Twin Cities audiences. His work has been heard at presentations by Liquid Music, the Walker Art Center, VocalEssence, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and more. He collaborated with librettist Stephen Karam (author of the Tony Award-winning “The Humans”), whose text in this production is projected elegantly in a concrete poetry style with the help of supertitle designer Ben Litzau.
“Dark Sisters” received its world premiere in 2010, two years after the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch was raided by the state of Texas. Some 462 children were placed in temporary protective custody as a result of the raid.
Muhly and Karam set their story after the raid, when a group of “sister-wives” gather at the compound trepidatously awaiting the fate of their children, who’ve been taken from them. Their children all share a father, a man the women also call father. He calls himself Prophet, and he’s played by Karl Buttermann. Despite age makeup, he seems a bit young for the role.
Under the stage direction of Amanda Carlson, the personalities and relationships between the women quickly come to view. There are jealousies, in-fighting, and also camaraderie and care between the characters. The character of Eliza, played by Kuhlmann, is the most at odds with the rest of the group. She begins to question her faith, separating herself from the others both with her ideas and with atonal melodies that break free from the harmonies of her family members.
Eliza’s divergent musical outbursts are mirrored by the orchestra, seen on stage and conducted by music director Brian Dowdy. The chamber orchestra creates a simmering disorder to the commune’s order, with trombone splats and percussive rattles, and Cho’s piccolo part serving to upend, and even cause musical chaos.
Muhly’s score contains intriguing rhythms as well, particularly with the wives. There are humorous moments as well. A rivalrous duet between Presendia (Christine Killian) and Zina (Madison Holtze) generates laughs, despite how awful their whole rivalry might be.
The women also end up on a talk show made to look like “Larry King Live” (King in fact did interview women from the YZR compound). Buttermann, who plays Prophet and also King, finds more success with the latter. The scene has humorous moments before a climactic explosion from Eliza.
Besides Kuhlmann’s fierce portrayal of Eliza’s awakening, KrisAnne Weiss takes on the other emotionally fraught plot line as Ruth. Like Eliza, Ruth questions the commune, but much of her disillusionment turns inward. Weiss brings a tragic weight to her character and a slow, pigeon-toed physicality. Her Ruth can’t see beyond the walls of her confinement, yet she knows she’s a prisoner.
This is music that will make you uncomfortable, much like the storyline itself. It’s a bold production, produced confidently by JNOC, with fury, compassion and mystery.
IF YOU GO
What: “Dark Sisters” by Journey North Opera Company
When: 2 p.m. Oct. 1
Where: Southern Theater, 1420 S. Washington Ave., Mpls.
Capsule: Journey North’s production of “Dark Sisters” dives into the story of a fundamentalist commune, highlighting the tension through music.
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