Virgil Thomson: The Mother Of Us All

Opera in Two Acts. Ostensibly a biography of Susan B. Anthony and the suffragette movement, Stein's libretto slyly fractures history and expands the argument beyond votes for women to the essence of equality in America. Susan B.'s world is peopled with a demented mix of contemporaries (Ulysses S. Grant, Lillian Russell), anachronistic figures (Daniel Webster, John Adams) and symbolic characters (Jo the Loiterer, Chris the Citizen). Together they weave an unconventional but convincing crazy quilt of American dreams, ideals and values.