Last weekend, Lyric Opera of Chicago staged its world premiere of Safronia, a new work by avery r. young, Chicago’s inaugural poet laureate and a celebrated interdisciplinary artist. Safronia is the story of the Booker family, rooted in Mississippi, striving for a plot of land with a box (a house) on it. The Booker family paid for the plot of land by making moonshine, aka hooch. The music and libretto are young's initial foray into opera, introducing the southern Black vernacular to a wider audience. Safronia is directed by Timothy Douglas, who directed She Who Dared for the Chicago Opera Theater as well as The Color Purple and at least three plays from the August Wilson canon.
Meaghan McNeal made her Lyric debut as the titular Safronia. She possesses a soprano that hits the high notes as beautifully as a classical singer. McNeal has a sweet quality to her voice that is reminiscent of early Minnie Riperton with the Rotary Connection. She reminds me of one of my aunts who enjoyed her drink, packed a pistol, and had a mean streak. Safronia is the daughter of Baar (young) and Magnolia Booker (Maiesha McQueen). I got a preview of young's vocals and preaching abilities at the 2025 fall Chicago Humanities Festival. He sang at Nicole Mitchell and the Black Earth Ensemble's tribute to Angela Davis. His portrayal of the proud and gruff bootlegger stirred up a range of emotions and a sense of familiarity for me and many others in the audience. The performance was rooted in the Black church tradition of getting the Holy Ghost.
McQueen gives a soaring performance as the mother who is the backbone of the family, holding it all together when the family has to flee north under duress from the Klan. Her voice is in the more traditional gospel/R&B vein. She can tear the roof off and definitely bring the house down when she sings. The Booker family's story is familiar to most Black people who live in "up north." It's my family story out of Louisiana, down to an aunt named Frony, short for Safronia.
One of the more surprising moments came from Jeff Parker as Bossman, who sells the Mississippi land to the Bookers. Parker enters the stage singing a smooth falsetto that leans into Marvin Gaye and Eddie Kendricks. I have heard some fantastic "blue-eyed" soul, but not in the soul falsetto range. The Bossman role is peripheral, but Parker's singing made it more impactful. It came across as a white man trying to convince a Black family that he was trustworthy and "one of them."
Zachary James gave a riveting performance as the racist Cholly. Here is a bit of perspective in case you were unaware. Cholly is a pronunciation of Charlie, and white men were called Mister Charlie for their imperious attitudes toward Black people. James has a dual role: Cholly and the doctor who visits Baar on his deathbed. He has a rumbling bass voice that adds to the character's menace. Both characters call Baar "boy," which leads to a catastrophe for the Bookers.
A shout-out goes to Lorenzo Rush Jr., as Safronia's long-suffering but loving husband, King Willie Tate. That name is another nod to Black culture, as I grew up with quite a few people named King, Prince, and Queen Esther. The roots of these types of names come from the Bible, which was often the only way Black people learned to read. Rush is Chicago-based and has appeared in musicals, dramas, and the Dick Wolf Chicago franchises: Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. Rush's voice has the strongest blues edge in the cast. He inserts a high yip, heard in gospel music, as an emphasis note. It's a rare kind of melisma, and Rush puts the hurt on it.
The ensemble is a constellation of Chicago actors that I have seen in several productions or on television. Chicago gospel legend Jessica Brooke Seals appeared in The Gospel at Colonus and Priscilla Queen of the Desert—The Musical. The choreography for Safronia is by Kia Smith, founder of South Chicago Dance Theatre. Smith staged a profound and moving Lamentations of Peace in 2025. That production featured the Chicago-based gospel group the Bourné Family. The dancing and hand-clapping are essential to the flow of Safronia.
Paul Byssainthe Jr. serves as the conductor and orchestrator for Safronia. He has a powerhouse resume of productions on Broadway and at the Public Theater. He is currently associate music director for Ragtime at Lincoln Center. The orchestra was made up of Lyric Opera regulars with the addition of "da deacon board." They are the musicians who stir in the funk, blues, and gospel in Safronia. One of the deacons is Chicago musician and educator Billy Branch, a mainstay of the Chicago Blues Festival. I recognize his playing style as easily as I recognize Lee Oskar's or Toots Thielman's. The deacons are the Sunday church band with an organ, bass, guitars, and percussion. In the Black community, the church is a production of its own. People expect to be lifted and dazzled by the talent in their community, and the audience was both on the night I attended Safronia.
Safronia is a time-traveling tale with motifs of surrealism and naturalism. The projections by Vam Studio video designer add a ghostly quality to the opera. The backdrop is a triptych of screens covered in stars that shifts to the Booker homestead and, to me, appears to be the West Side of Chicago, where I spent a large part of my life with my grandparents. The projections are a part of the zen-simple set design. A bench, an urn for Baar's ashes, and stairs to a platform serve as the perfect setting. The ensemble is the focus and the heart of everything. Those in the Great Migration did not leave the past. It was and is carried in the descendants.
avery r. young is a multifaceted artist with roots in the American South. Safronia is musically beautiful and unlike anything I have seen in an opera. The storyline resonates and distinguishes itself from the formulaic Tyler Perry stage productions that preceded Medea's rise to movie stardom. The characters are familiar but not stereotypes. They are fully formed with a backstory and a trajectory that pulls at the heart. I hope Safronia returns to Lyric, as I highly recommend you see it.
Safronia was performed on April 17 and 18 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Running was 2.5 hours with one intermission. Please visit lyricopera.org for more information on Safronia.
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