Intimate Apparel, A New Opera

 Intimate Apparel
A New Opera
Lincoln Center Theater
The Mitzie E. Newhouse
January 22, 2022 

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Lynn Nottage has collaborated with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on an opera version of her play, Intimate Apparel.  The Lincoln Center Theater production that was scheduled to open before the pandemic, is now running at the Mitzie E. Newhouse Theater.  Directed by Bartlett Sher, the production is simple and passionate.  The music and action flow from one scene to the next with sweeping momentum. 

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

The year is 1905.  Esther (played by Kearstin Piper Brown) is an unmarried black woman who employs herself as a seamstress, making intimate apparel for a wide variety of customers.  She receives a letter from, George Armstrong (played by Justin Austin), a laborer working in Panama, digging the canal.  Esther cannot read or write, so she asks Mrs. Dickson, who runs the boardinghouse where she lives (played by Adrienne Danrich), to read the letter for her.  George is searching for companionship, and the son of Esther’s pastor recommended he write her.  Mrs. Dickson does not trust this letter.  Esther confides in one of her customers, Mrs. Van Buren (played by Naomi Louisa O’Connell), who boldly offers to reply to George’s letter.  The correspondence begins.  When Esther tells her friend and customer, Mayme (played by Krysty Swann), about her new suitor, she also volunteers to write letters for Esther.  Love builds over time, and George proposes marriage.  The wedding takes place the day of his arrival to New York.  Among the things they learn about one another is that neither of them was the author of their letters.

Kearstin Piper Brown & Justin Austin
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

The strength of Lynn Nottage’s writing in her 2004 play Intimate Apparel is the relationships.  In writing the libretto for this opera, she delved deeply into this aspect of the story.  Ricky Ian Gordon’s music takes these relationships to another level, especially in the second act.  The tenderness between Mr. Marks, the Jewish merchant from whom Esther buys fabric (played by Arnold Livingston Geis), gradually intensifies as the action progresses.  When Esther realizes her true feelings for Mr. Marks, the musical theme floats through the action.  It is repeated by Mrs. Van Buren, when she realizes her feelings for Esther, and again by Mayme as she meets and starts an affair with a man she calls Songbird.  It is emotionally engaging and follows through on the connections established in Act I.  The music and dramatic action equally build as Esther realizes that Mayme’s Songbird is actually her husband George.  

Although the cast is larger than Ms. Nottage’s original play, this is an intimate production.  It is very well suited for the Mitzie E. Newhouse Theater.  The set, designed by Michael Yearger, is minimal, consisting mainly of a turn table that keeps the scenes continually connected.  The costumes, designed by Catherine Zuber, are richly detailed and beautifully establish the time period.  The cast is superb.   Their voices are magnificent.  The acting is truthful.  

Intimate Apparel, A New Opera is playing at Lincoln Center Theater through February 28.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza