“Exultant. . . . As the unlikely survival of this opera suggests, the joy and beauty that music and art express can outlast evil even when they cannot defeat it.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
“It’s a tale of the outrage and rebellion of even the natural world of dogs, cats, and sparrows against things as unnatural as injustice and poverty and the suffering of children. It’s a story of good defeating evil. But its history is haunted by a single -instance of evil defeating good.”—Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner provides a new English libretto, and Maurice Sendak the design, for this Czech opera—a beautiful children’s story extolling the virtues of courage and collective action against tyranny. Just before the opera’s 1942 premiere, its composer Hans Krasa was arrested and sent to Theresienstadt, or Terezin, a “model ghetto” that was in reality a death camp. After a copy of the score was smuggled in, Krasa took advantage of the large number of talented instrumentalists there to stage the opera with imprisoned children. Brundibar was performed fifty-five times at Terezin. It is published here with Kushner’s short play But the Giraffe, a sensitively drawn historical backdrop.
Tony Kushner’s plays include Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul, A Bright Room Called Day, Slavs!, and the book and lyrics for Caroline, or Change.
Maurice Sendak is the author of over one hundred children’s books, including Where the Wild Things Are.
