Griggs-Janower pairs Brundibar with Amahl

David Griggs-Janower has launched an experiment, pairing two unlikely operas — a sentimental Christmas favorite and a lesser-known Jewish opera from a concentration camp.

Next Thursday marks the opening night for the double-bill performances of Brundibar and Amahl and the Night Visitors at the new GE Theater at Proctor’s in Schenectady.

This week, Griggs-Janower, the music director, was anticipating the public’s reaction.
"This is kind of an experiment," he said. "And we have in the back of our minds the thought that maybe this could become kind of an annual thing. So we’re interested to see if the public out there is interested or not once they hear it — if they like it, if it works — so we’re all curious about that."

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera that was written for television in 1951 about a boy and his widowed mother. Amahl, a young boy, is visited by three kings who are on their way to Bethlehem.

Griggs-Janower called Amahl a Christmas Eve opera and "a very heart-warming story" filled with humor.
"People, certainly all over America, but, I think all over the world now, have considered it a timeless Christmas classic," he said.

While Amahl has a small cast, Brundibar’s is much larger. It was written by Jews for Jews, said Griggs-Janower. Brundibar was recently made into a children’s book by Tony Kushner and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Ela Stein Weissberger, one of few survivors of the original cast, will speak before the opening performance. In recent years, she has been invited to performances in both the United States and abroad.

When Griggs-Janower learned about Brundibar, he thought it would be a really wonderful opera to put on, he said, and he had no idea that people had picked it up over the last 10 years.
"And then, the Kushner-Sendak book has really made a difference...so it’s had kind of a revival in the last decade," he said. It’s easily available, in books stores, and that often makes a difference whether people take it on or not, he said.
"And I think it has a life now. So here I thought I was doing something unusual but everybody in the world is doing it now. But of course nobody’s ever done it in the Capital Region ever," he said.

Griggs-Janower said the interesting thing about the two operas is their juxtaposition, one being a Christmas Eve opera and the other a Jewish opera from a concentration camp.

He said he hopes people find this juxtaposition wonderful and fascinating and not completely odd and crazy.

Griggs-Janower, the artistic director and conductor for Albany Pro Musica, which he founded 26 years ago, is also a professor at the University at Albany.

Earlier this year, Albany Pro Musica, an auditioned community chorus, performed three concerts as part of a 12-day multi-media festival to raise awareness about holocausts from World War II to Darfur.

The double-bill production next week of Amahl and the Night Visitors and Brundibar marks Proctor’s first self-made production.
Griggs-Janower said, "When I had this idea to do these pieces, I called the CEO, Phillip Morris, who is just an amazing man, and I said, ‘What do you think about doing this at Proctor’s"’ and he said, ‘We have a new theater. Let’s do it.’"

Over 25 middle-school students make up the operas’ casts. The Farnsworth students in Brundibar, which includes the entire chorus, are: Alex Benninger, Renee Benninger, Zoe Bousbouras, Albert Cartagenes, Alessandro Cerio, Francesca Cerio, Laura Chevalier, Sierra Christensen, Rosamaria Cirelli, Leah Devlin, Enaw Elonge, Charlotte Hayden, Samina Hydery, Clare Ladd, Jordan Lloyd, Christian Meola, Casey Morris, Anthony Pitkin, Lexi Rabadi, Geoffrey Snow, Erin Stack, and Catherine Walser.

The entire Brundibar cast is children except the organ grinder, allegorically Adolph Hitler, whom Griggs-Janower called "a mean old man." He said working with children actors is a completely new experience.
"Although I’ve worked with children singers...I’ve never worked with children actors before, and it’s kind of a different dynamic," he said.
"It’s an extremely different dynamic, in fact. And I’ve just enjoyed it tremendously. It creates different challenges," he said. "They are so energetic and rambunctious and exciting to be with that sometimes it’s a little hard to get them to focus, but their energy is incredible," Griggs-Janower said. "I just have such a great time with them."