Molly Hagan

BWW Reviews: DARK SISTERS Might Surprise You

DARK SISTERS, the new opera about a polygamist family with music by Nico Muhly, and libretto by Stephen Karam, takes a cue from the recent trial of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Mainstream Mormonism and its polygamist roots have become popular topics of late, visible everywhere from the Republican primary to Broadway to television shows like HBO's Big Love and TLC's Sister Wives. Nonetheless, DARK SISTERS succeeds in its careful rendering of the well-trod subject of polygamy - the opera soars on its own merits (Muhly's beautiful score and Karam's well-chosen images) without devolving into cult fetishism.