Alex Yang, Alexis Reed, Joni Griffith (with violin), Beth Gusenius, Rudolfo Nieto, and Eric Broker Photo by John Handy

This year's opera is Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. Mixed Precipitation's mischievous twist is to take an opera's original story, update the time and place, and insert references to pop culture and topical events, all with a satiric, somewhat outlandish bent, and mount the show in outdoor settings throughout the Twin Cities and selected outstate sites. As for the score, a fistful of pop tunes are dropped into the narrative while a generous supply of selections from the original opera are maintained. The pop tunes this time around are a passel of rock songs from the mid-1990s originally recorded by The Offspring, Nirvana, Hole, UMC, Tracy Bonham, Melissa Etheridge, Cake, Deadeye Dick, Smash Mouth, and Crowded House. Most of them are driven by end-of-the-millennium angst.

The libretto by Julius Barbier is sung as written in the original French, but its translation is adapted by Scotty Reynolds, Phill Takemura Sears, and Gary Ruschman into pithy sentences, often with melodramatic flair. These are seen by the audience on a scroll that is unrolled by turning a pair of cranks, like a jumbo version of the shoebox dioramas some of us produced as grade school projects. Sometimes the lyrics appear out of unexpected places. I won't give away any of these cool surprises but will caution you to keep your eye on the birdie.

Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach's final work, premiered in Paris in 1881, four months after his death. It was based on a play by Barbier and Michel Carré which, in turn, had been based on three stories by the German writer E.T.A Hoffmann (1776 - 1822). Hoffmann's specialty was works of fantasy, often with macabre twists, and has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe. His stories are the basis for two beloved ballets from the realm of fantasy, The Nutcracker and Coppélia.

Starting with stories that were already fantastical, Offenbach took Hoffmann's inventions a step further by making Hoffmann the hero of all three stories. These are tied together with a prologue in which Hoffmann is cajoled into telling tales about his poor luck at love, and an epilogue in which he admits failure, with an admonition from his muse that he stick to poetry.

Now, the creative spirits at Mixed Precipitation have come along to take their own liberties with the stories. Hoffmann's artistic muse takes the form of a clever cat named Nikki, and the three tales of unfulfilled love are set in Silicon Valley, Nashville, and Miami, locations that each come with a bit of their own cultural mythology.

The actual stories don't depart all that much from Hoffmann's versions. In Silicon Valley, the would-be-lovers come from two different worlds–Hoffmann a human; Olympia an AI chatbot (in Hoffmann, she was an automaton, or robot). In Nashville, Hoffmann and his lover, a country singer, are torn apart by forces beyond their control. In Miami, Hoffmann's beloved exploits his devotion for her own gain. Along the way, snarky lines pop up, as when the chatbot creator Spalanzani tells Hoffmann that his work is based on science, and Hoffmann responds "And I was a liberal arts major, so I trust science."

The selections of popular songs interpolated into the mix work really well, as they deal with yearning hearts, unreliable partners, superficial relationships, and other varieties of disappointment, mostly in cynical, wounded, or angry voices. The exceptions come at the end, with Smash Mouth's "Walkin' in the Sun," that, late in the show, suggests that a change in perspective can set humanity's downward spiral on a new course, and the upbeat finale, "Something So Strong," by Crowded House, celebrating Hoffmann's conclusion that the pursuit of art, not love, is his path to happiness.

The talented cast has fun with all of these as well as with the selections from Offenbach's work, delivering then all with high voltage energy. Most audience members will recognize the melody of the stately "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour (the Barcarolle)." All of the music is played by a lively band led by music director Gary Ruschman. Some of the musicians also have roles in the opera, and all of them pivot between grunge rock and opera on a dime.

Some of the members of the cast change as the show travels to different venues. At the performance I attended, in an open glen ringed by the woods at Caponi Art Park in Eagan, Roland Hawkins II took on the role of Hoffmann. Hawkins has twenty years of opera experience (Minnesota Opera, Des Moines Opera, Portland Opera) and it shows in his beautifully controlled tenor delivery of Offenbach's melodic score. Bass-baritone Rudolfo Nieto played all four of the show's villains, a different one in the prologue and Acts I, II, and III. Nieto's rich, deep sound was perfectly attuned with the gleeful posturing each diabolical character assumes, making him great fun to listen to and to watch.

Joni Griffith was joy incarnate as the cat/muse Nikki, putting her gamin presence and lovely voice to great use and bringing sly humor to the cat's intuitive sense of what's really going on. Griffith also plays Giulietta Moon, the two-timing Miami "hostess," with hearty swagger. Eric Broker, appearing last week as Giulietta's boyfriend, Schlemil, was striking as a gym-rat who plays on his chiseled good looks and an air of mystique. E lena Stabile, in the role of Nashville singer Antonia for just the past week, is a recent arrival to the Twin Cities whose gorgeous soprano lit the night, with a beautiful performance of the reverie, "Elle a fui, la tourterelle" and a splendid duet with Hawkins, "C'est une chanson d'amour."

Madison Holtz, who returns to the production next week, was marvelous both in voice and comic flair as Olympia, the Chatbot. Her delivery of "Les oiseaux dans la charmille (the Doll Song)," a favorite from the score, was one of the production's highlights, then followed shortly after by her tormented take on "Doll Parts," written by Courtney Love and recorded by her group, Hole. Trevor Woggon as Spalanzani, the scientist who created Olympia, projected suitable pomposity. Nick Miller (as Antonia's father) and Beth Gusenius (as the ghost of Antonia's mother) ably completed the cast.

Scotty Reynolds, Mixed Precipitation's founder (in 2009) and producing artistic director, directs Tales of Hoffmann, and his wealth of experience pays dividends, keeping the tone breezy yet endowed with a thoughtful subtext, ensuring that transitions are seamlessly made, and assembling a cast of multi-talented and playful singer-actor-musicians. K Marie Mielke designed the imaginative costumes. Lisa V. Kudas' set and lighting design is spare–after all, it must travel around the state in a pick-up truck–but effective. Antonia Perez contributed sprightly choreography which the cast gamely performs.

This is a "Pickup Opera" because the pickup truck, representing the production's mobility, occupies centerstage. Before COVID, Mixed Precipitation presented "Picnic Operas" with sample-sized portions of healthy food and drink passed among the audience throughout the show; well, public health concerns ended that. But their spirit of warm hospitality, inviting the audience to relax, lose any reservations some may have about being at an opera, and just have a swell summery time, remains.

Tales of Hoffmann is being performed at various locations as a Pickup Truck Opera by Mixed Precipitation through September 13, 2026. All performance sites are outdoors. For performance dates, locations and reservations, please visit mixedprecipitation.org.

Music: Jacques Offenbach; Original Libretto: Julius Barbier, based on short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, adapted by Scotty Reynolds, Phill Takemura Sears, and Gary Ruschman; Additional Music: Offspring, Nirvana, Hole UMC, Smash Mouth, Tracy Bonham, Melissa Etheridge, Cake, Deadeye Dick, and Crowded House. Stage Director: Scotty Reynolds; Music Director: Gary Ruschman; Choreographer: Antonia Perez; Costume Design: K. Marie Mielke; Set and Lighting Design: Lisa V. Kudas; Scenic Artists: Ches Cipriano, Jake Quatt; Fight and Intimacy Coordinator: Tessa Dahlgren; Dramaturge: Val Fish; Stage Manager: Ches Cipriano (Will Dierenfield - August 18 - 23); Producer: Scotty Reynolds.

Cast: Eric Broker (Schlemil, August 18 - 23), Ches Cipriano (puppeteer), Beth Gusenius (Angela), Joni Griffith (Nikki the Cat/Giulietta Moon), Roland Hawkins II (Hoffmann, August 18 - 23), Madison Holtze (Olympia), Joel Mathias (Schlemil), Nick Miller (Clive Crespel), Rudolfo Nieto (Lindorf/ Coppélius/ Dr. Miracle/ Dapertutto), Jake Quatt (puppeteer), Alexis Reed (Antonia), Elena Stabile (Antonia, August 18-23), Felix Aguilar Tomlinson (Hoffmann), Andrew Wilkowske (Lindorf/ Coppélius/ Dr. Miracle/ Dapertutto, September 2 - 13), Lizz Windnagel (Olympia, Aug. 26 - 30), Trevor Woggon (Spalanzani), Alex Yang (ensemble).

Musicians: Eric Broker, Joni Griffith, Beth Gusenius, Marc Harroo (August 26 - 30), Madison Holtze, Joel Mathias, Nick Miller, Rudolfo Nieto, Alexis Reed, Alex Gary Ruschman, Elena Stabile, Andrew Wilkowske, Trevor Woggon.