For their first opera in this summer season of two, Shakespeare Opera Theatre opened with Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, a tragedy based on the Biblical story of Susannah and the Elders.
The first thing to note about this production was how Andrew Kraus played this score like he was sinking his teeth into it. Although the arrangement in this production was for piano and not orchestra, the piano has a ton going on, and Kraus made it sound as thick as Floyd’s orchestration.
Immediately I loved the costumes. Both Floyd’s score and Dr. Lori Lind’s production design transported the audience to East Tennessee. And the show was well-cast, too, with noticeably excellent voices from the quartet of women right away. Also, using the entire room for the staging created the effect of the townspeople surrounding the audience, appropriate to their persecution of Susannah.
Still, at the beginning, not all feels hopeless. The dance scene felt innocent enough that it was hard to think about the bad things that would happen later. Kristine Overman, the Susannah on opening night, sang “Ain’t it a pretty night” in such a way that I got chills. I loved that I got all her diction, and Nico Caruso joining her as Susannah’s brother Sam confirmed that the audience was going to get some great characterizations in this performance. I also enjoyed the way their voices harmonized. Later on, Overman’s singing of “The trees on the mountain” was one of the best I’ve ever heard. That is her aria. She owns it.
JP Paul as Elder Hayes stood out in the quartet of Elders for his fabulous tenor voice. The entire scene where they encounter Susannah bathing naked in the creek somehow drove home just how unfair the town’s judgment of her is. All of the men’s reactions felt disgusting, especially Antony Zwerdling’s as Elder McLean, who lingers a little longer than the others to leer. At this point, I had to consciously unclench my jaw from the rage coursing through me and remained on the edge of my seat for the rest of the show, because it just gets worse. Little Bat, played by Kurt Lannetti, reveals to Susannah that, under pressure, he told the town that they had slept together. Surely every woman at some point in their life has felt Susannah’s tears of frustrated grief at a moment like that, when one cannot see a way forward through injustice, unfairness, and others’ judgment that keeps piling up.
The revival scene was James Myers’s first opportunity to shine as the Reverend Olin Blitch. Myers has a beautiful baritone voice, and although I wanted more resonant low notes from the singing since the role really requires a bass-baritone voice, he had the high notes, and he made the character his own. I went in expecting to hate this character because he later takes advantage of Susannah, and instead I found myself sympathizing with him because he seemed like a victim in how the elders tell him what to think about her. And then, when he came to visit her, in this staging he literally got on her level by sitting down during “I’m a lonely man, Susannah,” and the audience is meant to believe that he is genuinely lonely. Still, what follows is awful, especially considering the entirely-too-relatable and tragic prevalence among women of consenting to sex when, in Susannah’s words, “I’m so tired, I just can’t fight no more.”
And yet.
Very quickly after he and she go into her house, Blitch comes back onstage to sing “Hear me, O Lord,” begging God for forgiveness after realizing the rumors about her were not true and that Susannah was, in his words, “untouched.” He then asks the town to ask her for forgiveness for how they have treated her, and in another brilliant staging decision by Lind, with the townspeople scattered about the room it felt like he was asking us, the audience, to do so. By the end when Sam returns from hunting and shoots Blitch in the creek against Susannah’s wish, one couldn’t help but feel that he did not deserve to die.
The acting in this production was phenomenal. Lily Scalisi as Mrs. McLean got the plum line of the show: “I wouldn’t touch them peas o’her’n,” and Eliana Berrean, Emily Warren, and Holly Breivik as the rest of the quartet felt appropriately judgmental and gossipy. Donnette Rimmer and Amy Howard filled out the chorus, making for some sublime ensemble work with Floyd’s excellent choral writing. Nico Caruso as Sam proved to be everything, particularly toward the end when Susannah tells him what has happened and he decides to shoot Blitch. Finally, after Sam does so and has to flee, Overman’s transformation into insanity was completely believable and almost palpable, with her eyes popping out of her head and deranged laughter signaling just how broken she was.
After such a gripping production, I cannot wait to see the company’s comedic pairing with it: Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe.
Maggie Ramsey
Susannah
Music and Libretto by Carlisle Floyd
Cast and Creative Team
Susannah – Kristine Overman, Monica Niemi, Holly Breivik (Cover); Olin Blitch – James Myer, Lily Scalisi (Cover); Sam Polk – Nico Caruso, JP Paul (Cover); Little Bat McLean – Kurt Lannetti; Elder McLean – Antony Zwerdling; Elder Hayes – JP Paul; Elder Gleaton – John Knox; Elder Ott – Gene Allen; Mrs. McLean – Lily Scalisi and Emily Rich; Mrs. Ott – Eliana Berrean; Mrs. Gleaton – Emily Warren; Mrs. Hayes – Holly Breivik; Chorus – Donnette Rimmer, Amy Howard
Stage Director/Production Design/Production Manager – Dr. Lori Lind; Collaborative Pianist/Conductor – Andrew Kraus; Scenic Carpenter – Foreman – Ray Raymond; Scenic Carpenter – Chuck Grimes, Wade Smith; Scenic Carpenter – Apprentice – Peyton Vecera; Lighting Design/ASM – Rory Miles; Production Assistant – Grey Reynolds; Jewelry – Cleta Raymond; Graphic Designer and Website Developer/Designer – Laura Sage
St. Thomas Episcopal Church, McLean, VA, July 10, 2026
All photos by Dr. Lori Lind