Review: Minnesota Opera’s enchanting ‘The Snowy Day’ delights children and adults alike

Nice timing, Mother Nature.

On the day that Minnesota Opera would open its latest production — an operatic adaptation of the very popular children’s book, “The Snowy Day” — about half a foot of the fluffy stuff fell on downtown St. Paul. By evening, the electric lights in the tree branches weren’t the only thing glistening in Rice Park as a more multigenerational than usual crowd of operagoers made their way into the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

What with love and death being key ingredients in your average opera, you don’t customarily see many children 10 and under in attendance. But this production is very clearly intended to be shared by those aged in single digits and the adults in their lives.

Minnesota Opera’s staging is indeed ideal for all ages. For children, it’s a lovely and loving evocation of the magic of a major snowfall and the exhilaration of playing in it with treasured friends and perhaps making new ones. For adults, it’s a wistful look back at childhood discovery and wonderment. And, even if you don’t bring a kid, composer Joel Thompson’s mesmerizing score is well worth hearing.

Best known for the award-winning choral work “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” Thompson is clearly skilled at guiding listeners toward emotionally powerful places. But unlike that grief-filled piece, “The Snowy Day” is about joy, innocence and coming to terms with the impermanence of everything.

Librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney has expanded upon Ezra Jack Keats’ 1962 book, giving excited voice to the internal world of the 7-year-old protagonist, Peter, and more fully fleshing out his relationships with his parents and friends.

So we’re made privy to the misgivings stirring within Peter’s mother as she allows him to explore the snow-covered cityscape alone, tinged with the recognition that this is another step in the growing distance that enters every parent-child relationship. Also expanded are the roles of his father, his new friend Amy, and the big kids who bombard him with snowballs.

Soprano Raven McMillon splendidly captures Peter’s wide-eyed innocence and inquisitiveness amid a series of small triumphs and tragedies. McMillon originated the role in its debut production at Houston Grand Opera, and she’s clearly quite comfortable in the role, her sweet, full voice and bouncy physicality helping make her a convincing kid. Leah Hawkins sings the role of Peter’s mother with an authoritative deeper soprano voice, the two offering a charming duet while scatting to a jazzed-up section of the score.

Also bringing subtle depth to Thompson’s captivating melodies are bass John Mburu as Peter’s father and soprano Zulimar López-Hernández as effervescent playmate Amy.

But the music impresses most when handled by the largest groups of musicians: when the ensemble acts as a chorus that underscores the sense of loss bubbling beneath the story and during some lovely instrumental interludes in the Kelly Kuo-led orchestra, most memorably during principal French horn Timothy Bradley’s gorgeous extended solo at a key change of mood and pianist Celeste Marie Johnson summoning up the peaceful feel of a gentle snowfall.

There’s unfettered affection for the physicality of children in director and choreographer Eboni Adams’ staging, while Amy Rubin’s scenic design and Jessica Jahn’s costumes put their own stamp on Keats’ original illustrations. Add the fact that the opera comes in at about 70 enchanting minutes, and you might have the perfect child-adult operatic bonding experience.

When: 7:30 p.m. Thu., 5:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.

Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.

Tickets: $41-$258 (ages 4-17, $23), 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.