Three Sisters

(1979)
Opera in 2 acts; libretto by Kenward Elmslie based on Anton Chekhov's play, Three Sisters (1901)

Premiere

March 13, 1986, Opera Columbus (Ohio)

Original Cast

Masha	Patricia Wells
Irina	Maryanne Telese
Olga	Marvellee Cariaga
Andrei	Stephen Dickson
Natasha	Marilyn Brustadt
Fyodor	Jerold Siena
Vershinen	Louis Otey
Baron	Keith Olsen
Solyony	Steven Alexus Williams
Chevutkin	Will Roy
Vladimir	Randolph Locke
Jacov	Richard Moon
Nanna	Irma Cooper

Cal Stewart Kellogg, conductor
Albert Takazauckas, director

Synopsis

The Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, along with their brother, Andrei, drag out a dull existence in a small provincial garrison town. Only the diversion afforded by the officers and the ever-present dream of someday moving to Moscow keep the sisters going from one drab day to the next. Andrei, who has had dreams of becoming a professor, makes a bad marriage that thwarts his ambition and adds to his sisters' troubles. His wife, Natasha, becomes a domestic despot. Masha, who is married to the pedantic schoolmaster, Fyodor, tries to find happiness in a love affair with the officer Vershinen. The youngest sister, Irina, attempts to escape the drabness of her life by marrying Baron Tuzenbakh, another officer. The removal of the regiment from the town undoes Masha's plan, because Vershinen is married and cannot take her with him. Tuzenbakh is killed in a duel. The three sisters are left as they were in the beginning, deriving some faint pleasure from the cheerful sounds of the regimental band as it marches away, still clinging to their hopes for a better life.

Source: University of Puget Sound Three Sisters Dramaturgy Page

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