The world premiere of The Merchant and the Pauper at Opera Theater of St. Louis

Paul Schoenfield's The Merchant and the Pauper is the ninth world premiere by Opera Theater of St. Louis in its twenty-four seasons. It's a striking combination of opera, musical theater, Purim play, and folk tale, with a score that draws on the musical heritage of both east and west. And if it seems a bit unfinished - well, that's what you can expect from a new work.

The libretto - by OTSL Communications Director Maggie Stearns - is based on an 1809 parable by noted storyteller Rabbi Nachman, the great-grandson of the founder of Hasidic Judaism. In Stearns's adaptation, the story is told by a Narrator (possibly Rabbi Nachman) to what appears to be a group of 19^th-century Jewish refugees who take on various roles as the tale progresses. The wife of the Pauper, a man poor in both wealth and spirit, is kidnapped by an evil general. The Merchant - the material and spiritual opposite of the Pauper - saves the Pauper's wife. As a result, the Merchant's son and the Pauper's extraordinarily beautiful daughter (known only as Beauty) are betrothed. Beauty so entrances the nobles that they make the Pauper an emperor, but his spirit is still impoverished, and he arranges for the Merchant to be ruined and his son to be cast away on a desert isle.

An evil Pirate kidnaps Beauty and, when the Pirate is shipwrecked on a certain desert isle, Beauty is reunited with the Merchant's son. Back home, the Pauper is ousted from power, his wife established in his place, and the Merchant restored to his property. The return of Beauty and the Merchant's son restores order and ushers in eternal harmony.

Nachman intended the story to be an allegory about the reunion of the Messiah (the Merchant's son) with Shekhinah, the Bride of God (represented by Beauty). But one could just as easily see it as referring to Yin and Yang, Jung's anima and animus, or the balance of our female and male natures. The very universality of the theme presents great dramatic possibilities, and while Schoenfield and Stearns haven't realized all of them, they have produced an interesting and sometimes compelling opera.

There are strong performances from the principals: Thomas Barrett as the Merchant, Thomas Trotter as the Pauper, and Julia Ann Wolf as the Pauper's Wife. Marcus DeLoach and Madeline Bender make a touching couple as the Merchant's Son and Beauty. And Yaacov Zamir is chilling as the evil General and the Pirate. The decision to write the role as a counter-tenor instead of the more traditional basso is a bold one, and it works wonderfully.

Broadway and opera veteran Spiro Malas is less effective as the Narrator, partly because he was unsure of his lines on opening night, and partly because the libretto requires him to hammer Rabbi Nachman's points home a little too heavily a little too often. Frankly, there were times when I felt as if I were at a lecture rather than an opera.

John DeMain leads the orchestra through Schonfield's eclectic score, which ranges from classic to Klezmer. The sets and costumes mirror the music in combining the Biblical with the more contemporary era of the refugees. The production as a whole has a unity of concept that is impressive. I just wish it had done more to touch my heart with the story and less to whack me over the head with the moral.

The Merchant and the Pauper continues in rotating repertory through June 27^th. Call the Opera Theater box office at 314-961-0644 for tickets.