Andrew Stenson and Mika Shigematsu in the Opera Theater of St. Louis’s production of “An American Soldier.” A new staging at the Perelman Performing Arts Center will be directed by Chay Yew.Credit...Ken Howard
‘AN AMERICAN SOLDIER’ It’s a small miracle whenever a contemporary opera gets a revival, much less a second production. But this work, by Huang Ruo, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang, is about to get its third, at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. The earliest form of the opera — the tragic true story of Pvt. Danny Chen, who grew up in Manhattan’s Chinatown and enlisted in the Army, then was found dead at his base in Afghanistan — premiered in Washington as a one-act in 2014. I saw an expanded, two-act version at Opera Theater of St. Louis in 2018. Even in rehearsal, I was immediately struck by its smartly controlled stylistic eclecticism, its underlying tension of anxiety and aspiration, and its libretto’s ability to remain propulsive while jumping back and forth between a courtroom drama and flashbacks. This latest staging will be directed by Chay Yew, of “Cambodian Rock Band” and “Sweatshop Overlord.” May 12-19 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, Manhattan. (J.B.)