Theodore Dreiser was one of America’s great novelists in the early part of the 2oth century. His books reflected a changing America as the country and the world became a less rural and more urban place.
Among the themes he explored was the changing role of women, far before the modern feminist movement. Sister Carrie is an early Dreiser novel and follows Carrie from rural Wisconsin to Chicago as she seeks to make a new life.
This novel is also the subject of the world premiere opera of the same name, which opens Friday at the Florentine Opera.
Minneapolis-based mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala stars as Carrie, and says that this opera is unique in its exploration of new, modern territory. "(Carrie) has no precedent for even anticipating what the outcomes could be. So she makes these choices in a very fraught time, socially, and for herself, personally. Where she ends up, it's ambiguous," says Zabala.
As the play follows Carrie's difficult path from small town to fame in an industrialized America, the music reflects the same challenges and momentous history of the American dream realized.
"I've been doing some newer pieces that are very new both in subject and musical idiom, etc. So this has got elements across the spectrum that give it a lot of depth," Zabala adds.
Sister Carrie will be on stage Friday October 7th and Sunday October 9th at Uihlein Hall in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
