The Saint of Bleecker Street

Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti's The Saint of Bleeker Street, opened at The Dicapo Opera on Saturday night. The Saint of Bleeker Street, written in English and dating from 1954, is the story of a simple young girl in New York's Little Italy who is blessed (or afflicted) with the stigmata and hears voices and sees visions. Her protective brother Michele, who is also a convinced atheist, thinks his sister needs hospitalization, but he cannot stop their neighbors from believing his sister to be a saint. An opera of high theatricality!