'Butterfly,' 'Wizard,' 'Fiddler' highlight Logan musicals

"There's no place like home," said Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," and the producers of the Utah Festival Opera have taken that to heart.

"That central topic of 'There's no place like home' is really pervasive in all four of the works we're doing this summer," said general director Michael Ballam. "There is no place like home, and that road of freedom to get back home is really important — today probably more than it's been a lot of years, because of a lot of the challenges that the world has experienced since Sept. 11."

Ballam explained that the Utah Festival Opera is theme-oriented, and this year's theme — "The Golden Road to Freedom" — has played a central role in determining this summer's offerings in Logan. Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," Verdi's "Nabucco," Harnick's "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Wizard of Oz" all have something in common — they all deal with the power of home and freedom.

" 'Nabucco,' Verdi's first masterwork, came at a time when freedom was really in short supply in Italy," said Ballam. "Italy has a long history of being accosted by other nations. And the idea of mounting an opera about Israel and Nebuchadnezzar coming with the Babylonian empire and taking over Israel had real impact on Verdi and on the people of Italy. In fact, this opera really launched the Italian revolution, finally standing up to the Austrian empire, and saying, 'No, this is our land, go home.'

"I think it speaks even more strongly to us today after 9/11. We're seeing history repeat itself again and again. We're hoping that people will come and resolve to make some decisions about how much is freedom worth to us, and other nations as well, and what is our responsibility to ensure that the world has the opportunity to be free."

Ballam added that "Nabucco" is an opera that is seldom performed. In his lifetime, he said, it has been only recently produced at the Metropolitan Opera, and never has it been done in Utah. "It is his biggest work. It requires more remarkable singers and ensemble than any of his work, and it's not one of the mainstream Verdi operas because it's hard to produce."

For the Logan production of "Nabucco," Ballam said 943 singers were auditioned before the lead roles were filled.

The set and costumes are designed by an Israeli, Jacobo Kaufmann, who will also direct the production.