This review was originally titled SELLOUT CROWS CHEERS APPROVAL FOR ESPERANZA and appeared in the August 26, 2000 issue of the Capital Times in the Lifestyle section, page 1F. It is available online here from the Capital Times.

Labor love-feast, glittering world premiere and, besides that, a pretty good opera: "Esperanza" opened to a sold-out crowd at the Old Music Hall on the UW campus Friday.

As an event, the opera was incomparable and without flaw, and it was greeted with a long, roaring standing ovation.

The opera is based on a 1954 film, "Salt of the Earth," which itself was based on the true story of the 1950-51 strike, at Bayard, N.M., by the largely Hispanic Local 890 of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union against the New Jersey Zinc Co. Faced with a court injunction preventing their husbands from picketing, the miners' wives took up the signs and chants, and eventually won.

The opera concentrates on the story of a single family, Esperanza and Ramon Quintero, delightfully performed by Theresa Santiago and William Alvarado, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Music. It was conducted by Karlos Moser and directed by Norma Saldivar. The score, by David Bishop, is accessible and pleasant, if at times a bit muddy.

Promoters of the story have always had the interests of labor at heart. The opera is produced by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO and the Wisconsin Labor History Society, and "Salt of the Earth" was produced by a group of Hollywood filmmakers who had been blacklisted for their alleged communist leanings. (A rare treat this weekend is the screening of the suppressed film at the Majestic Theatre, 115 King St.)

One irony not mentioned in the opera: The real-life miners' union had been expelled from the CIO in 1950 for its alleged communist taint.

As librettist Carlos Morton admits in the program notes, the story leans a bit toward propaganda, painting in broad black and white strokes. There's nothing wrong with having a point of view, but dramatically the result is to skew the focus of "Esperanza." Altogether it is pro-labor, pro-feminist, pro-Hispanic and, strangely, includes as a central theme the notion that New Mexico is a land of "enchantment."

Some of these themes could be whittled down into better perspective, and at two and a half hours, plus a 20-minute intermission, "Esperanza" could and should be cut down. Given that almost all new theatrical works are toured and tried out before officially premiered, whatever fat there is can be excused. And its accessible score, pro-social message, positive portrayals of Mexican-Americans and even its setting in currently hip New Mexico -- all make the opera a very strong contender for production in Los Angeles and New York.

Planning for the opera began following the 1991-92 Wisconsin tour of "Images of Labor," a spiritually similar production with the same backstage players, Kathleen McElroy, Karlos Moser and David Newby.

The audience was filled with a mix of political, academic, labor and arts leaders, including state Sen. Fred Risser; John Matthews, president of Madison Teachers Inc.; UW emeritus Professor Robert Kimbrough, past president of the Madison Theatre Guild and labor activist; Ann Stanke, general director of the Madison Opera; Roland Johnson, past director of the Madison Symphony and co-founder of the Madison Opera; the Rev. John and Ginny Moore Kruse; Professor Joel Rogers, of the UW departments of law and sociology; local media personality John Urban; and, of course, David Newby, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.

In keeping with its proletarian profile, "Esperanza" is perhaps the only opera whose premiere will be celebrated with a beer bash. At 10:15 tonight a community celebration of the production will be held at the Madison Labor Temple, 1602 S. Park St. It is free and open even to those unable to attend the opera.