'Strange Fruit' ripens in premiere

Chapel Hill -- Long Leaf Opera has never taken the easy path. For eight seasons the Chapel Hill company has kept to its mission of staging operas written in English. That focus has meant worthy, rarely known works in productions whose vision often exceeded resources.

Now the company has taken the bold step of recasting itself as a three-week annual summer festival emphasizing new works. With Friday night's opener in Memorial Hall, the world premiere of "Strange Fruit" by composer Chandler Carter and librettist Joan Ross Sorkin, the company is on its way to fulfilling its great promise.

Based on the controversial 1944 novel by Lillian E. Smith, the opera is set in 1920s rural Georgia and centers on the forbidden love affair between Tracey, a young white man, and Nonnie, a black nursemaid. When Nonnie tells Tracey she's pregnant, he is unable to face the consequences and breaks off the relationship, suggesting she marry his black servant Henry for cover. When Nonnie's hotheaded brother Ed learns the situation, he hunts down Tracey and kills him. Matters get worse when Henry is wrongly accused of the crime, leading to a mob's chilling retribution. Nonnie braves it all, determined to bring up her child in a better future.

Chandler, a native of Four Oaks, seems to have an inborn feeling for the Southern setting, confidently employing elements of jazz, blues and gospel hymns. These familiar idioms make the vocal lines sound natural and supply a satisfying unity. When Chandler ventures into more dissonant, densely overlapping lines for dramatic arias and ensembles, the results are impressive but they lose momentum, bogging down in their complexities.

Sorkin attempts a lot of plot (there are 14 characters, plus assorted townspeople) and accomplishes an admirable economy and clarity in the first act. But too many details and events make the second act jumbled, unbalanced and lengthy. Fewer stops for purely musical display (Nonnie's weighty aria and two similar choral hymns) would help the second act match the first. Still, there is no denying Chandler and Sorkin's assured talent in a work that will easily bear repeated exposure.

It would take bigger, more fully formed operatic voices than most of the performers have to realize the score's full potential. But the singers had the difficult lines firmly in hand, were well cast and offered winning characterizations.

The strongest came from Jason McKinney as the outgoing Henry and Robert Hughes as the cocky Ed, both savvy actors and accomplished singers. Erina Newkirk gave Nonnie a shining spirit, and Charles Stanton made Tracey sympathetic despite his selfishness. Denise Payton exuded warmth as Nonnie's mother, and John Cashwell was impressive in his short role as mill owner Tom Harris.

Technical aspects were greatly improved from previous productions. Doris Schneider's clever setting of revolving interiors and evocative tree branches was nicely complemented by Chenault Spence's starkly atmospheric lighting and David Serxner's costuming. Randolph Umberger's staging was clear and inventive. Benjamin Keaton led the Carolina Chamber Symphony with an understanding of the work's various styles, although the complex sections needed more thrust and tension, and the louder sections covered the singers.

Long Leaf Opera deserves high marks for pushing itself toward more consistent quality and for its resolve to champion new works.