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I have seen a few operas in my life, mostly in connection with other things (a class trip to see Don Giovanni while we were putting on Amadeus, Tosca while studying abroad in Florence), and only once because I knew someone in the cast (Show Boat at the Kennedy Center). Mostly my experience with opera is singing them, including once onstage (the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Member of the Jury--I was a member of the jury). But this was the first time I have attended an opera purely because I was interested in the thing itself. 

Intelligence was commissioned by the Houston Opera and premiered in 2023. It tells the stories of Elizabeth Van Lew, a white woman who ran a Union spy network in Richmond during the Civil War, and Mary Jane Bowser, a black woman who was enslaved by the Van Lew family and worked as a spy. The Virginia Opera had a lecture before the performance which probably went into the historical accuracy of the show, but we missed it due to extremely slow service at the cocktail bar next door, so it wasn't until I got home that I did my own research and found that most of what the opera claims as fact was probably untrue.

But the opera itself--I liked it! Mary Jane is the focus, and it follows her experience as a spy, as well her reality of being enslaved, even by someone whom she likes and respects a great deal. The storylines go as follows: Mary Jane is "lent" to the Confederate White House to serve the Davises and ideally gain knowledge to pass along to Elizabeth. Meanwhile, she keeps interacting with a woman called Lucinda, who knows a lot about her. Elizabeth is running her spy ring and trying to keep a local member of the Confederate Home Guard from discovering the truth, which is made more difficult by the fact that he has enlisted Elizabeth's sister-in-law Callie, who has lived with Elizabeth since her husband went off to fight.

There are two additional men: Wilson, Mary Jane's husband (who we see the least of--unfortunately as the actor who played him was by far the best singer) and Henry, the Davis' butler. Henry falls in love with Mary Jane and singlehandedly carries the requisite romantic subplot as Mary Jane is far too busy to bother with it. It comes to a head with a scene in the second act where Henry is trying to convince Mary Jane to go north with him, Wilson is singing about how he knows she never will because he loves and knows her best, and all the while Mary Jane is digging a grave to bury a white man they just killed in self-defense. Incredible moment. I was having the time of my life.

The real emotional heart of the show is between Mary Jane and Elizabeth, a relationship which ends up broken when Mary Jane discovers that Elizabeth, despite caring for her and sending her to school and trusting her with spywork, has nevertheless been lying to her about her mother's fate (and the fact that they might be sisters) for her entire life. It all serves to tell a gripping story that also conveys that there were no "good" slave-owners. A powerful sentiment to hear in downtown Richmond, Virginia.

I enjoyed the staging a lot, although I had forgotten how much of opera performance is just. Walking slowing around the stage. There were a trio of dancers who didn't have a whole lot to do, although there was an extended scene in the second act which is a sort of Mary-Jane-in-the-spirit-world that relied on them. Whenever called upon, they were good! I don't know if seeing this has made me want to attend more opera in general, but it definitely excited me about the prospect of new and developing opera.