Cast
Synopsis

Carlisle Floyd's opera brings this moving story to life with music that sounds sometimes folksy and familiar and other times stirring and powerful. Filled with an insightful mixture of human frailties, the story of Susannah was transported by Floyd from its biblical setting in Susannah and the Elders to a small mountain town in the Carolinas. The story focuses on 18 year-old Susannah Polk, a girl innocent of the charges brought against her by the church elders who see her bathing in a woodland stream. The whole town rushes to judgment and turns against her. Influenced by the town, itinerant preacher Olin Blitch seeks to save her from sin. Metropolitan soprano, Emily Pulley performs the title role with Grant Youngblood as Reverend Blitch, Brian Downen as Little Bat and Vale Rideout as Sam, Susannah's alcoholic brother. The production was originated at the Central City Opera and is directed by Michael Ehrman. Performance dates are March 26 and March 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mobile Civic Center Theater.