Review: ‘She Who Dared' lovingly fact-checks civil rights history

Chicago Tribune

07-06-2025

At what point does history become hagiography?
Composer Jasmine Barnes and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton tackle that question in 'She Who Dared,' Chicago Opera Theater's world-premiere retelling of the 1950s Montgomery bus boycotts—the real story, that is. It also may be making history itself: COT has advertised 'She Who Dared' as the first professionally staged opera written by two Black women.
As we're reminded — or taught — more or less immediately in the opera, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin (soprano Jasmine Habersham), brainy and brash in equal measure, was actually the first arrested for refusing to give up her seat to white bus riders, in 1955. But local activists decided she was too risky to prop up as a martyr. Colvin (by then also pregnant) was too young, too untested, too dark. Instead, the boycott coalesced around Rosa Parks (soprano Jacqueline Echols), a light-skinned seamstress respected by Black and white Montgomery residents alike.
'Let the flame burn like Claudette, but keep it inside,' activists sing to Parks at one point in the opera.
The movement's dismissal of Colvin — still very much alive, at 85 — in favor of Parks is usually a one-liner in history books, if that. 'She Who Dared' elevates it to the status of a secondary conflict, using the decision as a cipher to address colorism, classism, sexism, and other stigmas within the movement. Quite like last month's fabulous 'Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining' at Harris Theater, 'She Who Dared' ends up being not just a history lesson but a trenchant satire of respectability politics.
While its thesis is serious, the opera manages to strike a consciously light-hearted tone without making light of its subject matter. The opening to Act 2 is just as biting as it is amusing, with Echols, as Parks, hammily cavorting around Montgomery. At one point, a police officer tips his hat and offers Parks the crook of his arm.
The opera's principals further represent the nuance of the movement in Montgomery. Susie McDonald (mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter) is a wealthy, white-passing widow; she was in her 70s at the time she was arrested. We follow Jeanetta Reese (mezzo-soprano Cierra Byrd) — an original plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the resulting 1956 Supreme Court ruling striking down segregation on public transportation — as she decides, agonizingly, to withdraw from the case, representing those who stepped away from activism out of fear for their lives.
'She Who Dared' is already strong, but it's further vaulted by COT's strong cast. Habersham's explosive, easily combustible soprano captures Colvin's fire. Like Parks herself, Echols is a master of reserve and release, stoking her big Act 2 aria like a slow burn. As McDonald, Dexter is pointed and iridescent. Meanwhile, Byrd's wide dramatic palette and flexible voice make the most of thankless roles as the movement's deserter and Montgomery's white power brokers.
Filling out the cast were mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams, bringing poise and chutzpah to the role of Aurelia Browder, Browder v. Gayle's lead plaintiff; lightning-bright soprano Lindsey Reynolds, another singer with local credits, as Mary Louise Smith, another young voice in the boycotts; and mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel as Jo Ann Robinson, a calm anchor through the opera's storms.
Barnes has already marked herself as a composer to watch at other city institutions like the Chicago Symphony and Ravinia. In her first evening-length opera, she's already a natural, grazing gospel, tango and even klezmer in an ever-lively orchestration, guided with lyricism and grace by pit conductor Michael Ellis Ingram. Whether crackling with humor or invoking prayer, Mouton's text says what it means — not a subtle libretto, but one which drives the action forward well.
In a marked improvement over October's 'Leonora,' 'She Who Dared's' set, designed by Junghyun Georgia Lee, was a stirring example of minimalism done right. Its centerpiece is a faithful rendering of a 1950s Montgomery bus, rotated by stagehands dressed as repairmen.
Likewise, Yvonne L. Miranda's costuming embraces the show's scale, rather than working against it. In some scenes, characters donned just one extra piece of clothing to temporarily step into another role: a suit jacket to turn Robinson into Fred Gray, the boycotters' attorney, or a hat, shades and nightstick to turn Reese into a Montgomery city cop. It gave the opera the feel of reminiscing among friends — an appealing and deft way to handle historical retelling. Timothy Douglas's insightful direction supported this reading, squeezing as much characterization as possible out of the seven principals while keeping the action buoyant.
The opera needs some TLC to land its ending. 'She Who Dared' loses its narrative drive in the final two scenes, defaulting to platitudes ('We brought a movement to Montgomery!') and cloying tunes. After reenacting the initial district court trial — in which Colvin, Browder, McDonald and Smith testified—the opera skims over the Supreme Court decision upholding the ruling. But it was that court which ended the boycott and desegregated public transit systems nationwide, not the district courts. (Plus, the appeal process alone almost doubled the length of the boycott — a significant sacrifice by the protestors.)
That ending also evaded a darker coda to the bus boycotts, acknowledged in the show's comprehensive program notes: Black commuters faced vicious harassment once they resumed riding city buses. Some even maintained the old bus rules, just to avoid trouble. 'She Who Dared's' finale tries to nod at this, but it's too heavy-handed: The woman wait for the bus, then sing another number aboard it, noting there's 'so much change left to make.' A lighter touch would go further: boarding that bus, but acknowledging that we, to date, still don't know where it's going.
Save a slightly racy account of Colvin's affair with an older man, 'She Who Dared' carries a kid-friendly approachability. In this political climate, that's an asset. I could see future stagings — and let's hope there's many more of those — inviting school groups to runs.
With civil rights education under attack nationally, the arts are poised to step in, even as they wear new targets themselves. In fact, 'She Who Dared' itself received $30,000 from an NEA grant that has since been canceled.
But general director Lawrence Edelson struck a note of defiance in his opening remarks on Friday, to cheers.
'We've already received the money,' he told the audience, 'and, as I've said before, they're not getting it back.'
Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic.
Review: 'She Who Dared' (3.5 stars)
When: Through June 8
Where: Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Tickets: $60-$160 at chicagooperatheater.org.