See ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’ opera Saturday

Above : Terence Blanchard’s opera “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” will screen Saturday at two area movie theaters. (Photo/Metropolitan Opera)

Since it’s Black History Month , it’s only natural that The Met: Live in HD production of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” should return to theaters.

An encore screening of the opera will be held at 12:55 p.m. Saturday at the Regal theaters at Northtown and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

The opera is the creation of jazz trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard , while Kasi Lemmons adapted the libretto from the memoir of the same name by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow .

Blow’s memoir tells the story of a Black man growing up in rural Louisiana and dealing with family conflict and sexual abuse. Featured singers of Blanchard’s opera include baritone Will Liverman, sopranos Angel Blue and Latonia Moore, and Walter Russell III as a younger version of the adult protagonist.

Writing in The New Yorker, critic Alex Ross proclaimed, “What Blanchard possesses, above all, is a gift for musical storytelling: He summons up disparate characters and scenes within the frame of a distinct personal voice.”

Which is exactly what is needed to make good opera. So enjoy.