{"id":2282908,"date":"2026-02-15T14:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T14:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2282908"},"modified":"2026-02-15T14:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T14:11:13","slug":"a-ghost-rises-in-madison-operas-splendid-everlasting-faint-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/a-ghost-rises-in-madison-operas-splendid-everlasting-faint-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"A ghost rises in Madison Opera\u2019s splendid \u2018Everlasting Faint\u2019 | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Attend the tale of Elva Shue.<\/p>\n

Courted for one month and married for three to handsome blacksmith Trout, 23-year-old Elva is already gone at the opening of \u201cEverlasting Faint,\u201d an opera named for the way she died \u2014 a bygone reference to unexplained, possibly heart-related death. For good measure, the doctor throws in \u201chysteria.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen\u2019s troubled lives can end in early graves,\u201d the doctor (Alan Dunbar) sings before he\u2019s hastened away from Elva\u2019s deathbed by her \u201cmourning\u201d husband.<\/p>\n

Troubled lives, indeed. But this time, the cause of those troubles will have to reckon with his mother-in-law.<\/p>\n

Composer Scott Gendel and librettist Sandra Flores-Strand\u00a0spent about five years<\/a> working to bring \u201cEverlasting Faint<\/a>,\u201d a world premiere based on a true story, to life at Madison Opera. The production goes up one more time on Sunday afternoon in Overture Center\u2019s Capitol Theater.<\/p>\n

It has been more than two decades since Madison Opera produced a premiere on this scale. The opera co-commissioned Jake Heggie\u2019s \u201cThe End of the Affair\u201d in 2004 and gained widespread acclaim with the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired \u201cShining Brow\u201d in 1993.<\/p>\n

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Court Watson designed the set for “Everlasting Faint” at Madison Opera, and Matt Taylor designed the lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cEverlasting Faint\u201d makes a third jewel in that crown. Antique lamps dangle like miniature chandeliers in the homes and courtrooms of late 19th century West Virginia, animated by Gendel\u2019s lush, folk-inflected score. Only in opera does rage sound this beautiful.<\/p>\n

The curtain opens on what looks like a sinister production of \u201cOur Town\u201d as the chorus, arranged on wooden chairs, beckons us in with a ballad. Young Oliver Thornburgh, a sixth grader from Sun Prairie, weaves among the chairs as he sings sweetly of \u201csinners\u2019 crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon, ominous rumbles from the orchestra (led by Stephanie Rhodes Russell) set the tone for the aftermath of Elva\u2019s murder. Gendel punctuates the score with flourishes \u2014 a piano phrase that sounds like birdsong, the steady clang of an anvil.<\/p>\n

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht sings Mary Heaster, Elva\u2019s grief-stricken mother, with a sustained intensity and impressive control. She and Emily Birsan, as Elva\u2019s neighbor Martha, have some of the opera\u2019s loveliest moments, notably a prayerful duet in Act I (\u201cwhat will happen\/ when I leave this world?\u201d Martha sings).<\/p>\n

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Martha (Emily Birsan) comforts Mary (Katherine Pracht) after the death of Mary’s daughter, Elva, in “Everlasting Faint.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Gendel\u2019s melodies invite a closer listen. Soprano Tori Tedeschi Adams, as pale, ghostly Elva, has an agonized keening motif each time she appears, echoed later by her mother when she takes the stand in court. Tedeschi Adams makes Elva less ethereal wisp and more determined spectre, calling clearly from beyond the grave.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And though Strand-Flores\u2019 story trods heavy ground \u2014 watch for a single mildly humorous moment \u2014 it has real momentum as Mary works to reopen Elva\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Madison Barrett and Alexandra Burch, both marvelous as the furious ghosts of Trout Shue\u2019s first two wives, fan the flames of Mary\u2019s anger. Sung with Tedeschi Adams, the wives\u2019 trio at the end of Act I might be the opera\u2019s breakout piece. It\u2019s thrilling.<\/p>\n

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Katherine Pracht plays Mary Heaster, a mother intent on avenging her daughter’s murder, in Madison Opera’s “Everlasting Faint.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Director Keturah Stickann, also the dramaturg, came onto this premiere early. Her work shaping the opera shows in the balance of high drama and quiet intimacy.<\/p>\n

As Mary rinses a lace scarf drawn from her daughter\u2019s casket, her washbasin glows a bloody red (Matt Taylor designed the lights; set designer Court Watson designed the tightly patterned wallpaper and off-kilter furniture).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later, as the chorus rings the stage murmuring (\u201cStill, still, still\u201d), a jury of men watches over the public examination of Elva\u2019s body. Downstage, ghostly Elva and Mary have their most poignant conversation yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMother, listen,\u201d Elva sings. \u201cYou gave me life \u2026 this was never your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mary Heaster (Katherine Pracht) blames herself as her daughter Elva (Tori Tedeschi Adams) tries to absolve her during the latter’s autopsy in “Everlasting Faint.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cEverlasting Faint\u201d does have a bit of fun with the villain. Tenor Andrew Bidlack makes a meal out of the charming bad guy bit, and his raucous \u201cWhiskey Girl\u201d sounds torn from another time.<\/p>\n

Scenes like this one tie \u201cEverlasting Faint\u201d to operatic classics while giving us something delightfully new. Gendel and Flores-Strand add layers rather than simple repetition, with few exceptions \u2014 Matthew Trevi\u00f1o, as Mary\u2019s attorney, has a wonderfully resonant bass, but his \u201cjustice\u201d aria feels like somewhere we\u2019ve already been.<\/p>\n

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Attorney James Garner (Robert A. Goderich) questions Mary Heaster (Katherine Pracht) about her ghostly visitations in “Everlasting Faint” at Madison Opera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cEverlasting Faint\u201d closes on a call to action, echoing what Flores-Strand has seeded through the story. \u201cWho will listen to the news of another slain girl?\u201d Mary sings in Act I. The finale, led with visible emotion by Emily Birsan\u2019s Martha, offers an answer: all of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear your words,\u201d Martha sings, as the chorus joins and the stage backdrops lift. \u201cWe witness your pain. The future holds hope for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a production this strong, the future holds hope for \u201cEverlasting Faint\u201d as well.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attend the tale of Elva Shue. Courted for one month and married for three to handsome blacksmith Trout, 23-year-old Elva is already gone at the opening of \u201cEverlasting Faint,\u201d an opera named for the way she died \u2014 a bygone reference to unexplained, possibly heart-related death. For good measure, the doctor throws in \u201chysteria.\u201d \u201cWomen\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2282909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[348091],"class_list":["post-2282908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-arts-and-theatre"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/A-ghost-rises-in-Madison-Operas-splendid-\u2018Everlasting-Faint.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2282908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2282910,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282908\/revisions\/2282910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2282909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2282908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2282908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2282908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}