Librettist Deborah Brevoort says — with a considerable amount of self-conscious caution — that “Steal a Pencil for Me” is a Holocaust story “with a happy ending.” She knows that can sound insensitive, to say the least.
And yet, she spent considerable time with its subjects, Ina Soep and Jaap Polak, before they died two years ago. She heard them talk about their encounters at the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and the secret romance that bloomed between them, and then grew into an enduring marriage that lasted nearly 75 years.
She watched one day as Ina held before her a photo of the couple’s children and grandchildren and called it her “revenge against the Nazis.”
Brevoort’s libretto for the opera about the couple, getting its world premiere from Opera Colorado this week, has elements of drama, but also romantic comedy, she said.
“It’s about how people thrown into a horrendous situation figure out a way not to just to survive, but to keep themselves alive and to thrive,” she said.
The opera’s score was written by composer Gerald Cohen, who set out a few years back to create a work commemorating the Holocaust. He actually was familiar with the Polaks; they were members of the Shaarei Tikvah synagogue in Scarsdale, N.Y., where Cohen is cantor. Still, it took him awhile to understand the musical possibilities of their relationship.
“He had been looking for a long time, not realizing he had this amazing story sitting right in front of him,” said Brevoort, who is best-known for her play “The Women of Lockerbie.”
Cohen and Brevoort’s research began with interviews of the Polaks themselves. The couple’s age brought an urgency to the task at hand. Jaap was already 97 when the process started; Ina a decade younger.
Brevoort also relied on letters the pair had written to each other at the start of their time together at the camp. Their daughter had recently found them in the couple’s attic. Brevort imagined them “sneaking behind barracks passing love notes,” and it fueled her writing.
“The letters are striking to me for their ordinariness,” said Brevoort. “These are people; they’re not heroic, not larger-than-life.”
The Polaks certainly are not perfect people in the opera. Jaap was actually married when the couple first began their romance, and the character of his wife, Manja, is written into the piece. So is a former love of Ina’s, Rudi, who appears as a ghost in “Steal a Pencil for Me.” The quartet forms the sort of singing setup that is familiar in the opera world.
“Steal a Pencil for Me” is rounded out with seven principal singers, a few periphery characters and a chorus, Brevort said. Opera Colorado’s music director Ari Pelto, who helped develop the piece through its workshop stage, will conduct the performances at The Elaine Wolf Theatre at Denver’s Mizel Arts and Culture Center.
Ina’s part will be sung by Russian-American soprano Inna Dukach. Baritone Gideon Dabi performs the role of Jaap. Omer Ben Seadia directs.
The production is a rare world premiere for Opera Colorado and part of its current strategy of mixing large warhorse titles with newer chamber operas each season, and presenting the smaller works away from its home at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.
The idea is to bring a wider variety of opera to Denver, allow the company to get more intimate with its audience and reach a variety of communities. This tale of Dutch Jews finding love in the most unusual of places fits the mission.
Still, it is a risky work in its way. Just the idea of setting such a tragic tale to music takes some bravery, and it requires a sensitivity to all aspects of the adventure. Wrapping elements of a tender love story — what Brevort describes as the “small, intimate concerns” of a couple getting to know one another — into the vast horrors of the Holocaust is a delicate job.
“I just tried to write honestly, moment to moment, what was utterly truthful,” said Breevort. “What is the most truthful thing I can show here.”
“Steal a Pencil for Me” runs Jan. 25-30 at the the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, 350 S Dahlia St, Denver. Info at 303-468-2030 or operacolorado.org.
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