Copious Notes

Ann Rutledge (Amanda Balltrip) and Abraham Lincoln (Nick Provenzale) at a town dance in New Salem, Ill., in the world premier production of Joe Baber's "River of Time." Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Note: Space is finite in newspapers, really more finite than ever. This being a new opera, I wrote a bit longer than a usual review, and a little bit longer than the printed page in Saturday’s paper will hold. This posting of our River of Time review contains portions that will not be in the print edition.

No one in Abraham Lincoln’s home state has celebrated the bicentennial of the 16th president’s birth as well as the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre.

At the start of the celebration in 2008, the Opera Theatre teamed with the Kentucky Humanities Council to present Our Lincoln, a multi-faceted tribute to the Hodgenville native that eventually traveled to Washington, D.C.

Before that show was even conceived, UK Opera Theatre director Everett McCorvey had commissioned an opera about Lincoln from composer Joe Baber and librettist Jim Rodgers.

That opera, River of Time, had its world premiere Thursday night at the Lexington Opera House. It’s not the unqualified success of Our Lincoln, but there is much to like and even potential for Baber’s opera to endure as a portrait of the president before he was presidential.

River of Time’s story takes Lincoln from birth through the death of his first true love, Ann Rutledge. Along the way, he fights with his dad, becomes a bookworm, grieves the deaths of the three most important women in his life and even wrestles.

That story makes for some great moments, including a slave auction in New Orleans where Lincoln declares that if he gets a chance to fight slavery, “I’m gonna hit it hard.” The scene, with a heavy dose of spirituals, is the grand opera spectacle of the show.

But for the most part, this opera strives for a soothing — sometimes too soothing — Midwestern feel, in the spirit of Aaron Copland or Samuel Barber. That’s exemplified in a small-town dance scene in which Lincoln and Ann realize that regardless of whether she is engaged to another guy, they are in love. Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to hear a podcast of our River of Time report for WEKU-FM 88.9:

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The University of Kentucky Opera Theatre presents the world premier production of composer Joe Baber and librettist Jim Rodgers’ River of Time Oct. 8-10 at the Lexington Opera House. The opera, commissioned by UK Opera, looks at Abraham Lincoln’s early years including his search for purpose in his life and the roots of his desire to fight slavery. Photos by Rich Copley | staff.

Feature: Lincoln Opera portrays a ‘journey to greatness’

Abraham Lincoln played by Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg, left, and Henry Clay played by George MGee of Georgetown put the finishing touches on their costumes outside the entrance to the Kennedy Center. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

When actors signed up to play characters in the Kentucky Humanities Council’s Chautauqua program, they thought they’d be playing schools, libraries, community meetings and things of that sort.

“I never even thought I’d perform in the Singletary Center,” said George McGee, who portrays Henry Clay, a few hours before he would take the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Humanities Council and University of Kentucky Opera Theatre’s production of Our Lincoln.

McGee’s Clay is one of several Chautauqua characters in the Our Lincoln production, including EmilieTodd Helm, Lincoln’s sister-in-law, played by Betsy Smith of Cynthiana; Mary Owens, Lincoln’s first romance, played by Barbara Flair of Greensburg; and Lincoln himself, played by Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg.

All said the Kennedy Center was far beyond the expectations they ever had for their parts. They also said that it took them off their games a little bit.

“Eye contact with the audience is really important to the character,” said Flair. “So it’s kind of hard when you look out and all you see is white light.”

But none of the performers would trade away the experience, even if it means adjusting their acts a bit.

“I’m just proud to be here,” Sayre said. “It’s humbling.”

Comic and commentator Mo Rocca and a crew from CBS Sunday Morning will be in Central Kentucky next week filming a segment for the show, according to the Kentucky History Center.

Mo Rocca

The crew will be meeting up with the History Center’s HistoryMobile, a 300 sq. foot exhibit space housed on a 45 ft. tractor trailer, which is currently featuring an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the Lincoln Bicentennial. The HistoryMobile is scheduled to travel throughout the state over the next two years with the Lincoln exhibit. Rocca, a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, will be here to film part of a Lincoln tribute for the show, 1-4:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in Frankfort, where the mobile will be parked in front of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, and 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. the 15th in Danville’s Constitution Square.