Michael Hendrick played Lennie as ‘just a big kid,’ in keeping with the composer’s stated intentions. His steady, secure tenor captured the young man’s physical power as well as his innocence, most affectingly in the barn scene with Curley’s Wife, his large stature and boyish face adding to his believability.

Utah Opera continued to mature artistically with a poignant, powerful Of Mice and Men. A warm audience reception to the productions January 16 opening indicated a readiness to embrace works by living composers.

Cast members were uniformly well suited to their roles, musically and physically, and clear enunciation minimized dependence on projected tides. Pamela Berlin’s direction emphasized the humanity of even the peripheral characters. Michael Hendrick played Lennie as “just a big kid,” in keeping with the composer’s stated intentions. His steady, secure tenor captured the young man’s physical power as well as his innocence, most affectingly in the barn scene with Curley’s Wife, his large stature and boyish face adding to his believability. Stephen Bryant was equally compelling as George, investing the character with a nobility that afforded the bleak tale a glimmer of hope. Bryant’s voice rang out convincingly in his Aa II aria, “I won’t settle for such a stingy life.”

Diane Alexander gave Curley’s Wife a knowing, bitter edge in her early scenes, revealing a softer side as she confided her dreams to Lennie. Alexander handled the role’s coloratura and lyricism adeptly. As Curley, Michael Myers colored his strong tenor with a cruel edge, while John Davies brought dignity to Candy. The twelveman ensemble of ranch hands, prepared by Douglas Kinney-Frost, turned in an excellent performance. Karen Keltner led the Utah Symphony in a passionate, colorful reading.

The handsome new production is a joint effort with the opera companies of Cleveland and Vancouver. Vicki Davis’ scenic design is spare yet striking: a camp site dominated by three telephone poles that jut out like skewed crosses atop a little hill (lest anyone forget Lennie’s inevitable fate); a tidy, no-frills bunkhouse; and a barn, where light shining through cracks in the door (the handiwork of Nicholas Cavallaro) created one of the opera’s most memorable visual effects. Between scenes, Grant Wood’s idyllic “Farm Landscape” descended on a scrim, a quaint reminder of Lennie and George’s dream. Susan Memmott Allred’s costumes evoked the period and setting.

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by Catherine Reese Newton

Opera News