Intelligence, about to make its debut at Houston Grand Opera, bases its libretto on the true-life story of a Civil War female spy for the Union and one of her undercover informants. The opera will be depicted with music, words and dance featuring the
Urban Bush Women and marks the first time HGO will open its season with a world premiere, its 75th of all time.
Thanks to a casual suggestion from a stranger at a prestigious event at the Kennedy Center, famed composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer began looking into the real life story of Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Jane Bowser, who was born into the family as a slave.
"I've been working with Jake Heggie over the years. We've done many projects over the years,
Moby Dick and other things. Jake and I had written a song cycle for a wonderful mezzo soprano Susan Graham, a very prominent singer. It was being performed at the Kennedy Center. And in advance of the performance, Jake and I were doing a PR event where we were talking to people from the community about the song cycle we'd written for Susan," Scheer said.
At the end of the occasion, a docent from the Smithsonian came up to Jake and said 'Do you know the story of Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Jane Bowser?' and Jake said no. And the guy said 'Well that should be your next opera' and walked away. And we don't know who this person was."
They got into an Uber and started Googling and found an op-ed from the
New York Times, which described the history and it seemed like an amazing story, said Scheer, the famed composer and writer responsible for "
American Anthem."
They decided to investigate it further to help determine what was true, what was myth, Scheer said.
The story, inspired by real life, is that Van Lew, from a prominent Confederate family, became part of a pro-Union spy ring. She was aided in this by Bowser a household slave who in contrast to the usual practice, had been taught to read and write and has a photographic memory. Ven Lew sends Bowser to live in and spy on activities at the Confederate White House. As it turns out, Bowser also discovers the truth about her own ancestry, Scheer recounted.
In addition to composer Heggie and librettist Scheer, director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, the founder and artistic director of Urban Bush Women, directs and choreographs this new work.
The cast is led by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Elizabeth, soprano Janai Brugger in her company debut as Mary Jane, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges in her HGO mainstage debut as the mysterious Lucinda, soprano Caitlin Lynch as Elizabeth’s sister-in-law Callie, baritone Michael Mayes as the Confederate Home Guard Travis Briggs, bass-baritone Nicholas Newton as the Davises’ butler Henry, and tenor Joshua Blue as Mary Jane’s husband Wilson.
Kwamé Ryan will take the podium in his HGO debut. Eight Urban Bush Women dancers—Courtney J. Cook, Loren Davidson, Kentoria Earle, Roobi Gaskins, Symara Johnson, Blanca Leticia Medina, Love Muwwakkil, and Mikaila Ware—will make their HGO debuts as the ancestral force called the Is-Was-Will.
"I discovered that Mary Jane Bowser, this kid, is born into the family as a slave and amazingly she is baptized in the most prominent white church in Richmond, Virginia, and then sent up north to be educated when she's eight or nine years old and she becomes well educated," Scheer said. "Then she goes back to Richmond. Then in 1855 when she's about 15 years old she’s sent to Liberia and she's there for years and she writes Elizabeth and said I want to come home and Elizabeth sent her money.
"She pulls into Baltimore Harbor on the eve of the Civil War, of courses they didn't know it at the time. "She goes back to Richmond, she's arrested because once you've been freed you'r not allowed to come back to the South. Elizabeth goes to the jail and gets her out and she goes back into the house."
For her part, Elizabeth Van Lew who ran a spy network employing any number of people including Bowser, was the daughter of a very wealthy businessman, Scheer said his research showed.
"She goes up north to be educated. She meets a governess who is an abolitionist and changes Elizabeth's politics and her views of ethics and morality. [Elizabeth] cites a story of a Black woman is separated from her child at the auction block and it's so outrageous to her that she becomes an abolitionist. But unbeknownst to her family. When the war start Elizabeth Van Lew starts a spy ring on behalf of the North. She is getting secrets to General Butler through a coded cypher that is in her journal."
The fiction part of the story springs from an historic mystery involving the two women. After the war, Van Lew was made postmistress in Richmond. Bowser, who was married in the white church, remained in Richmond. "At the end of the war, she's 12 blocks away from Elizabeth Van Lew and the Confederate white House. And she never sees Elizabeth again," Scheer said.
That got his librettist's juices going, as he put it. "What happened between these two women? And so the idea grew on me that as Elizabeth is unearthing the secrets of the Confederacy, she's unearthing the secrets of her own life."
Beyond the intriguing plot, Scheer said people should be drawn to attend because of the opera all stars singing the two lead roles — Jamie Barton and Janai Brugger. "These are two mega stars. They've both been on the cover of
Opera News. They are power houses; they're incredible performers. When you come to see the show you're going to get to see incredible gifted superstars. It’s like I got to see Mantle play baseball,. These are extraordinary artists. And none of this would be possible if it wasn't in the hands of such gifted people. That’s really thrilling too. I wouldn't want to miss it."
Performances are scheduled from October 20 through November 3 at 7 p.m. Friday, October 20; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 28, Wednesday, November 1 and Friday, November 1 and 3; and 2 p.m. Sun \day October 22 at the Wortham Center, 501 Texas. For more information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org. $25-$210.
