Opera Review | 'To Hell and Back' and 'We've Got Our Eye on You' 

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Despite the intimate confines of Kilbourn Hall, Eastman Opera Theatre’s fall productions in the last decade have often been grand affairs suggesting a wide scope and far-reaching implications for their characters. From the 2015 production of Philip Glass’s Minimalist ode to poet Allen Ginsberg, “Hydrogen Jukebox," and Claudio Monteverdi’s Baroque masterpiece “The Coronation of Poppea” in 2017 to last year’s presentation of Anthony Davis’s 21st-century retelling of Shakespeare in “Lear on the 2nd Floor,” EOT frequently presents large stories with cast, sets, and costumes to match.


With “Mythology Through a New Lens” — a new double bill of Jake Heggie’s “To Hell and Back” and Nkeiru Okoye’s “We’ve Got Our Eye on You” — which opened Thursday night and runs through Sunday, Eastman Opera revisits ancient stories from the female characters' perspectives. In doing so, EOT has scaled things back considerably to execute chamber operas featuring modest sets and costumes, with mixed results.

One noticeable change was the location of the orchestra, which was positioned behind the set and clearly visible on the stage (rather than in the pit). This not only gave the music a heightened sense of importance, but a greater connection to the action onstage as well.

Based on the Greco-Roman myth of the Rape of Persephone and her abduction by Hades into the underworld, “To Hell and Back” is a contemporary reimagining that removes the male character from the stage entirely. But the effects of his presence are tangible as the two women who know him best are left to grapple with the emotional impact of his abusive actions.

Soprano Nyla Thomas played Stephanie, the wife of a rapacious and violent man, and mezzo-soprano Lily Bogas portrayed Anne, the man’s mother. Anne sees the abuse her daughter-in-law endures, but doesn’t act until the damage has been done. In spite of this, a poignant and at times touching relationship grows between the two women, much like the garden they tend together.

The agony is front-and-center. The two singers’ brilliant harmonies demonstrated their characters’ shared trauma. Heggie provides the character Anne with more memorable music in earthy, bluesy melodies, and Bogas’s dusky low voice perfectly conveyed the gravity of the characters’ tragedy. Thomas possessed a beautiful tone, but her vibrato was often so wide as to obscure the clarity of the pitches.


Six additional women on the stage bore silent witness to Stephanie’s agonizing experiences, and their tacit support could also be interpreted as the manifestation of Anne’s crippling inaction — a powerful dramatic decision on the part of stage director Pat Diamond.

“We’ve Got Our Eye on You” is a decidedly more lighthearted tale, based on the Greek tale of Zeus’s son Perseus and his relationship to the Graeae sisters, who share one eye. This version of the story centers on Perseus’s brief romantic entanglements with the sisters while on his way to his true love, Andromeda. A satire on the fickleness of hook-up culture, Okoye’s opera is meant to reflect our desires and shortcomings, though after a brisk 60 minutes of storytelling, the ultimate takeaway was unclear.

On opening night, the three sisters were voiced with great conviction by Sarah Spurlin, Catherine Creed, and Anastasia Maritsas, who each sang with clean, unfussy tone. Bass-baritone Holden James Turner was inspired as Perseus, and Jessica Kodsi was excellent as the oracle Pythia.

While the performances were affecting, the story itself felt limited and superficial, particularly when presented alongside with “To Hell and Back.” A second viewing of the two operas would likely shed more light on their compatibility, yet the seeming triviality of the second work left an empty feeling.

Eastman Opera Theatre’s double-bill of “Mythology Through a New Lens: ‘To Hell and Back’ & ‘We’ve Got Our Eye on You,’” runs through Sunday, November 5. For more information, go to esm.rochester.edu/theatre.

Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].