Susannah

The San Francisco Opera opened the second production of the new season recently with a stunningly theatrical production of American composer Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" Cast from strength and handsomely staged, I can see it making year-end "best of" lists already.

The Biblical Apocrypha story of a young woman wrongly accused and crushed by religious hypocrisy resonated again in modern times when Floyd wrote his powerful first opera during the peak of the McCarthy era, and its themes unfortunately still ring true today.

Setting the tale in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and dropping the "happy ending" for a much darker and more ambiguous moral revealed an innate sense of showmanship, relevant story-telling (he wrote the libretto, too) and self-confidence that have continued to serve the author throughout a long and prolific career.

SFO General Director David Gockley has also been a longtime champion, and he has fulfilled a personal commitment and goal in giving the composer's most successful work an official Company premiere. It has been 50 years since "Susannah" was first staged at the War Memorial Opera House by the old affiliate Spring Opera, and SFO has made the new production a triumph on every level.

With urgently fluid direction by Michael Cavanagh and visually arresting sets and projections by Erhard Rom (remember their notable Company debuts in 2012 with "Nixon in China"), effective lighting by Company resident designer Gary Marder, and simple but evocative costumes by Michael Yeargan, the big stage is vividly set for the searing drama of innocence betrayed.

The production marks another important milestone as soprano Patricia Racette celebrates her 25th anniversary with SFO. The beloved singer is no stranger to the works of Carlisle Floyd. She created the role of Love Simpson in his "Cold Sassy Tree" (which Gockley originally commissioned), and the composer's all-American tunefulness and strong vocal line, so reminiscent of Puccini heroines, are mother's milk to her. The sweetness and gleam we remember of Racette's young voice is not so easy on the ears now, but her legendary ability to slip chameleon-like into every part remains, and once again there is little need for suspension of disbelief as she becomes a 19-year-old girl.

Racette introduces herself as an endearing young woman, probably too pretty for her own good, who is forced through a horrific series of experiences into a final state of frozen and bitter exile. As an audience we are with her every step of her woeful way.

As Susannah's drunken but good-hearted brother Sam, tenor Brandon Jovanovich is reunited with Racette after their highly-praised appearances in "Madama Butterfly" in 2007. I remember him best as the remarkable rising star of SFO's "Lohengrin" in 2012. His portrayal of the impulsive Sam Polk is believable and very well-sung, only lacking the last degree of credibility because he is just too likeable and sympathetic to appear capable of murder.

In his role debut as the fearsomely conflicted traveling preacher Reverend Olin Blitch, bass Raymond Aceto returns to the SFO with another ominously convincing performance. I will never forget his standout Hunding in the Company's "Die Walkure," but here he rightfully assumes star status with his perfectly sounded and disturbingly realistic performance. The libretto allows the villain some recognizably human moments of remorse and even a failed attempt at redemption. Aceto is up to the complicated challenge, and his deepest notes are superbly accurate.

The rest of the cast really couldn't be bettered, with Catherine Cook suitably nasty as the meanest of New Hope Valley's church ladies, and American tenor James Kryshak making his SFO debut and indelible mark as the smarmy Little Bat McLean. When Susannah claws at his face in cat-like fury at the conclusion, we only wish she could have drawn blood.

The large SFO Chorus directed by Ian Robertson also deserves highest praise for their thoroughly committed ensemble throughout the swift but arduous performance. They are called upon to sing and dance at a church social (shout-out to choreographer Lawrence Pech), testify at a revival meeting, and surge through the night landscape in blind fury before the final curtain, and there is never a distracting moment of un-idiomatic participation.

Conductor Karen Kamensek also makes her SFO debut, and the presence of a woman on the podium for this opera seemed wonderfully apt. Of course, her control and shaping of Floyd's gorgeously melodic and potently dramatic score got her the job in the first place, and she managed to savor the lyrical pages without ever slowing the theatrical drive.

Susannah is, without question, a great piece of musical theatre. Gockley puts it in the roster of American operas close to "Porgy and Bess," and I agree with him. How fantastic was it to see the composer himself accepting the standing ovation of an admiring audience on the stage of the War Memorial? A genuine reason to rise and cheer.

There will be undoubtedly be another "standing O" on the final day of the run on Sept. 21, when Patricia Racette is honored on her remarkable 25th anniversary with SFO.