"Ballad of Baby Doe" celebrates 70th anniversary on a Colorado stage
"The Ballad of Baby Doe" is an American opera that Central City Opera premiered 70 years ago. The historic Colorado opera company is celebrating the anniversary with a new production that captures this quintessential Colorado story.
When the curtain rises on "The Ballad of Baby Doe," audiences are transported back to the 19th century.
Elizabeth "Baby" Doe got swept to Colorado as part of the Gold Rush. She divorced her first husband, Harvey Doe, leaving her available when she met and fell in love with Horace Tabor. The much older Tabor was already married and quite wealthy from silver mining. He founded the town of Leadville, and was among the mining magnates that helped build Denver. He was determined to marry Baby Does and so arranged for a secret divorce from his wife, Augusta. The two were wed in Washington, D.C. in an opulent celebration. While the couple was very much in love, society shunned them due to moral norms.
What makes this story worthy of an opera is what happens next. In 1893, Tabor lost his entire fortune during a crash in silver prices and the subsequent economic depression. He died in 1899, leaving Baby Doe with no money and no standing in society. She lived out the last 30 years of her life in a shack on Tabor's original Matchless Mine. She died at age 81 alone in that shack.
"I felt really strong and confident that I could find elements of myself within Baby Doe, and that is what I think makes such a truly well rounded character that people can understand and maybe relate to," said Virginia Mims, who sings the role of Baby Doe.
"The Ballad of Baby Doe" was written by composer Douglas Moore and uses an English libretto by John Latouche. It's one of the few American operas to be in the standard repertory.
"'Baby Doe' is what I would consider kind of the height of 20th century American opera," said Aaron Breid, conductor of the Central City Opera orchestra.
The opera contains five arias, and Baby Doe sings three big duets all set to a uniquely American melodies.
"It is very different. It's a style we don't get to play a lot," Breid added.
"I think the composer has written a beautiful arc into this story because I feel and I get a sense from the music about how quick their lives changed," Mims explained.
The score is really compelling, but the story is extraordinarily compelling.
"This production is so powerful that it would be nigh on impossible for somebody to walk out and feel like they weren't changed in some small way from what they see and what they hear," Mims said.
LINK: For Tickets & Information for the "Ballad of Baby Doe"
"The Ballad of Baby Doe" is just one of the three productions that are apart of Central City Opera's Summer Festival. The company is also performing "The Marriage of Figaro," and "Master Class," which is a play about a famous opera singer. The Summer Festival runs through Aug. 2 at the historic opera house in Central City.
