The Eleanors

A co-production of BU Opera Institute and School of Theatre

October 10 – 12, 2024

Studio ONE

Jodi Goble, composer and librettist

Michael Ching, co-librettist

Matthew Larson, music director

Edward Sturm (CFA’24), stage director

The Eleanors is a 90-minute chamber opera set in the final year of World War II. Newlywed nurse Maxie turns to her friends Lilian and Ramona for support when her husband Cal is captured during the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned. Lyrical, funny, high energy, heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Eleanors is infused throughout with musical influences from swing and American Songbook.

29th Annual CFA Fringe Festival Puts Women in the Spotlight

Suffused with the irresistible energy of 1940s swing music, as well as needle-drop moments from the Great American Songbook, the story centers around the hopes, dreams, and fears of three women on the American homefront during the final fraught year of the Second World War. “There’s some lightheartedness to it,” says Lumpkin, “but there are also elements of being separated from loved ones and the strength of women who have found themselves in a new situation.”

The annual Boston University Fringe Festival is a collaboration between the College of Fine Arts School of Music: Opera Institute and School of Theatre. Fringe’s mission is to produce new or rarely performed significant works in the opera and theatre repertoire, bringing performances and audiences together in unique theatrical settings. For over two decades, Fringe Festival at BU has celebrated and amplified new work, shown in spare and minimal productions.