Lyric Opera postpones production of ‘Proving Up’

Lyric Opera of Chicago on Wednesday announced that its production of “Proving Up,” originally slated for presentation Jan. 22-30 at the Goodman Theatre’s Owen Theatre has been postponed out of an abundance of caution amid the COVID-19 pandemic surge.

No cases of COVID presented themselves among the company, cast or crew, according to a Lyric spokesperson. According to the official statement from Anthony Freud, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director, the “difficult decision is based on our current understanding of the ever-changing public health situation, with the goal of keeping the safety of our company, our audiences, and our artists as our overriding priority.”

To wit, rehearsals, which were set to begin this week, were canceled as were all travel plans for artists headed to Chicago for the production.

The chamber opera, a co-commission with the Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and Miller Theatre at Columbia University and adapted from the Karen Russell short story with a score by former Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli and libretto by Royce Vavrek, is, according to the official release, “a haunting, supernatural story of Nebraska homesteaders in the 1870s and their dream of ‘proving up’ and obtaining the deed to the land they have settled. The opera leads audiences into a world where a law’s requirement of a single glass window can shatter the hopes and dreams of a family, and what happens when those dreams turn into nightmares.” The production was to be directed by James Darrah in his Lyric debut.

The production will be rescheduled for a future season.

Current ticket holders will be contacted directly for refund or donation information.