The opera takes place on the doorstep of a tenement on the East Side of Manhattan on two brutally hot days in 1946. The story focuses on two plotlines: the romance between Rose Maurrant and her neighbor Sam Kaplan; and on the extramarital affair of Rose's mother, Anna, which is eventually discovered by Rose's irritable father, Frank. The show portrays the ordinary romances, squabbles and gossips of the neighbors, as the mounting tensions involving the Maurrant family eventually build into a tragedy of epic proportions. Broadcast on BBC Two on New Years Day, 1993, this production was performed by the English National Opera and conducted by James Holmes.
as Anna Maurrant
as Rose Maurrant
as Sam Kaplan
as Frank Maurrant
as Willie Maurrant
as Abraham Kaplan
as Harry Easter
as Henry Davis
as Dick McGann
as Mae Jones
as Lippo Fiorentino
as Greta Fiorentino
as Emma Jones
as Olga Olsen
as Daniel Buchanan
as Jennie Hildebrand
