La MaMa to Premiere Opera Whose Lead Is Opera's First Female Physician

By Tom Whitfield

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City will present the world premiere of "Allegra & the Cello, in Movements," a new opera by Julia Schwartz and Catherine Filloux, on Dec. 10.

The production runs through Dec. 20.

Soprano Brittany Renee will perform the title role of Allegra. According to the announcement, the protagonist is believed to be the first female physician to serve as the lead character in the history of the art form. Note the verb: "believed to be." No evidence accompanies the claim, and opera's four-century repertoire resists tidy superlatives. The claim is plausible; it is also unverified.

Renee will be joined on stage by cellist Akua Dixon for the 70-minute work. Elena Arao directs this A High Hard Heat/Dominick Balletta production.

Who is making it?

The creative team includes:

• Set and lighting designer Justin Townsend
• Costume designer Suttirat Larlarb with Brynne Oster-Bainnson
• Projection designer Milton Cordero
• Stage manager Milan Eldridge
• Casting by Jamibeth Margolis CSA

Katie Rosin and Erin Kramer serve as press representatives; Daniel Rosen handles social media.

What does this change for the form?

If the first-physician claim holds, the premiere would mark a genuine first for a form that has historically given women doctors little stage time as principals. A 70-minute runtime and a two-performer core — soprano and cellist — also signal a chamber-scale model, one that off-Broadway venues can mount where full orchestras cannot.

The announcement says nothing about the opera's plot beyond its protagonist, its musical language, or its instrumentation beyond Dixon's cello. Whether the physician premise becomes dramatic substance or biographical framing will be visible only when the curtain rises Dec. 10.

Renee arrives with a profile in the repertory: she has spoken publicly about performing in "Porgy and Bess" and the changing demands of the opera field. La MaMa, for its part, has a record of staging new music-theater works, including prior premieres such as "luzAzul" and "ICELAND, a re-Creation Myth."

Eleven performances, one venue, one claim to a historic first. The run closes Dec. 20; the verification, one way or the other, starts Dec. 10.