By Christopher Graham
The story of Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon is a story that has been retold many times. This time it will be sung in an opera format at BYU.
As part of the bicentennial celebration of the life of Joseph Smith, the BYU School of Music will present the opera ?Book of Gold,? which premieres Friday in the de Jong Concert Hall.
On select nights, the show will feature guest artists from the New York Metropolitan Opera. Ariel Bybee will perform the role of Lucy Mack Smith, while Darrell Babidge and Jennifer Welch-Babidge will play Joseph and Emma Smith. An original score composed by BYU professor Murray Boren and will be performed by the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra.
In this production, the creators hoped to convey the emotional impact of the life lessons that Joseph experienced and help audiences identify with the humanity of the people involved in those historical events.
?[The opera] attempts to delve into the essential emotions of the events and the characters,? said Rodger Sorenson, director of the opera. ?We attempted to capture those turning points of history that changed people and their circumstances.?
Sorenson described the opera as more poetic than literal. He said he was not attempting to recreate history exactly but rather trying to portray real historical characters in a symbolic setting. Through these settings and the music, a poetic expression of these events is communicated to the audience through the powerful medium of opera, Sorenson said.
?Opera deals with large life-changing issues which are often emotional and very dramatic,? Sorenson said. ?What Joseph Smith did was world changing. In this opera we show him in his journey from a young man to a prophet.?
The opera follows the early events of the church from 1827 to 1830. Sorenson said by watching the play, audiences get a better perspective of the restoration along with the trials the prophet and the people close to him experienced. This part of Joseph?s life presented him with some of his hardest trials, Sorenson said, and it was a time when Joseph had not yet become the great leader he was to become.
?I don?t want to see a tragedy or someone?s downfall,? said Glen Nelson, writer of the opera. ?I want to see the transition of a character and what makes him become something.?
Nelson said it is this transition they tried to portray in the opera. He said the pivotal decisions Joseph Smith had to make made him become great. At the time of these events, Joseph was the same age as most college students, and he was dealing with many of the same problems and fears that students face, Nelson said. He said by showing a time period when this great historical figure had to make big decisions created a story that the audience could relate to.
?Seeing Joseph?s trials is a humanizing factor,? Nelson said. ?[Joseph and Emma] have problems and doubts; they make mistakes and they don?t know if everything is going to work out. ?This allows people to put themselves in their same position.?
?Book of Gold? will run Nov. 4-5 and 9-12 at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. For ticket information, contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office at 422-4322 or visit performances.byu.edu.
