North Country Opera Tours Northern Michigan for 40th Anniversary Tour
In 2022, a touring production of North Country Opera played to sold-out audiences in northern Michigan in celebration of the play’s 40th anniversary. It sold out venues in Mancelona, Cheboygan, Leland, Ludington, and Ann Arbor.
Audiences are now watching a recording of the final performance, North Country Opera: Recorded Live at The Ark, at movie theaters throughout Michigan.
About
North Country Opera is a musical play by renowned Michigan playwright and song writer, Jay Stielstra. Set in the Buckhorn Bar in northern Michigan, it is the north country’s own version of a timeless love story: a young man falls in love with the beauty of the northern woods and rivers – and the woman he meets there. After leaving for the big city to pursue bigger and better things, he realizes how much he misses the two loves he left behind.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF A MICHIGAN CLASSIC
North Country Opera has been produced more than any other of Jay’s plays. It premiered in 1982 as the second play ever produced at the original Performance Network in Ann Arbor. Since then, it has been revived in 1992, 1993, and 2003 in Ann Arbor, and has toured across Northern Michigan: Petosky, Mackinaw Island, Escanaba, Frankfurt, and Cheboygan. A sequel, North Country Opera Continued, premiered at the Ark in 2003 to rave reviews.
A TRIBUTE TO NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Jay Stielstra, Playwright and Songwriter
The play is a loving tribute to the people and culture of northern Michigan: fishing for trout in the cold rivers, hunting for birds in the autumn woods, snowmobiling in the winter. And of course, the comradery and wit of local characters found in a favorite tavern.
AN ALL-STAR CAST AND CREW
Ron Miller, who directed earlier productions of both North Country Opera and North Country Opera Continued, returns to direct the 40th anniversary North Country Opera 2022 revival produced by Barbara Schmid and Dan McCarthy. Along with the classic North Country Opera storyline, North Country Opera 2022 includes a collection of Jay Stielstra’s most memorable folk songs – including I Love Two Rivers, Heaven for Me, The Boats Came in to Ludington and more – all performed by a cast of Michigan musical and theater luminaries: starring Rochelle Clark and Brad Phillips with Chris Buhalis, Kristi Davis, Peter Knox, Christina McMullen, David Menefee, and Italy-based artist Aaron Stielstra. The Buckhorn Bar Band features Music Director Judy Banker with Michigan music favorites David Roof, Grant Flick, and Charlie Reischl.
Reviews
“Just get in and see it, and mourn that it hasn’t become a national treasure yet, merely a local landmark. New York has the Fantastiks; we have North Country Opera”
- Ann Arbor News, 1992
“As a folk tunesmith, he [Jay] is an acknowledged master – surely one of the best our state has ever produced.”
- The Detroit News, 1992
“Like some of the wily trout lurking in the streams of northern Michigan, North Country Opera is a bit of an enigma – legendary and elusive, yet filled with a simple beauty that, if you can catch it, brings untold satisfaction.”
- Ann Arbor News, 2003