Zulimar López-Hernández and Raven McMillon Photo by Cory Weaver

The Snow Day was published in 1962, and in 1963 was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal, which honors each year's most distinguished picture book for children. It was the first book so honored in which the primary character was a child of color: Peter, a four-year-old African American boy who is depicted in an urban setting and in a positive light. These seemingly slight features were ground-breaking advances in their day.

The story is nothing more than Peter waking up to discover the world covered with snow, then venturing out on his own to explore. Peter makes different types of footprints in the snow, knocks snow off a tree with a stick, climbs up and slides down a snow "mountain," builds a snowman, and considers joining in a snowball fight with bigger boys, then thinks better of it. Before going inside, he slips a snowball into his pocket and at his bedtime, he is sad to see that it has melted away. He is further distressed by a dream that the sun came out and melted all the snow. However, in the morning, the snow is still there. Peter ventures out again, this time with a friend, for more snowy day adventures.

As in the book, Peter is the opera's primary character, but other characters only briefly seen in the book–his mother appears on just one page, for example–are expanded, and several new characters are introduced. One of these is Peter's father, who, with Peter's mother, creates a circle of love and protection around their child. Another new character is Tim, one of the "big boys" from the snowball fight who protects Peter when the others begin to taunt the younger child. A friend, only seen from behind on the book's final page, is greatly expanded as Amy, who joins Peter halfway through his snowy day. Amy is Latina, and her father Papi also makes an appearance. Thus, Peter's experience broadens from solitary engagement with the winter elements to one that occurs within a nurturing and diverse community.

Though The Snowy Day is a one-act opera running only 70 minutes, it feels like a full program, and the shorter-than-usual duration makes it a good occasion to introduce young children to the world of opera. That said, most of the audience members on opening night were fully adult, and the cheering for the superb performers, the marvelous full orchestra conducted by Kelly Kuo, and the work itself are evidence that The Snowy Day can be enjoyed, even loved, by audiences of any age. Of course, it may help a bit to have once had a young child at home, perhaps a grandchild in your orbit, or a fond memory of a day similar to Peter's from your own childhood.

As Peter, Raven McMillon embodies the spirit of a frisky, curious child, epitomized in the way she has Peter squirm when Mama insists on smearing his face with Vaseline to ward of chafing in the cold. It is the bona fide squirming of a four- or five-year-old and not an adult, not even an older child. McMillan's small stature next to her castmates helps to solidify the sense that we are watching a young boy and not a grown woman. Her vibrant soprano further conveys Peter's fascination with everything he encounters on his journey through the snow.

Hawkins is wonderful as Mama, her warm contra-soprano conveying the depth of her love for her son, even as her patience is tried by Peter's eagerness to escape the domesticity of home and set foot in the winter wonderland. John Mburu instills Peter's father with kindness and an openness to expressing parental love for his child, and it is a joy to hear those words expressed in his rich bass. Mburu also handles a few comedic moments with aplomb, such as when, after Peter talks back to his mother, he tells the boy "Don't sass her, Peter. Trust me, I've tried." Soprano Zulimar López-Hernández, as Amy, and baritone David Wolfe, as Tim, enrich their performance with playfulness and clear voices, expressing their delight as friends reveling together in the snow. Both Mburu and Wolfe are Minnesota Resident Artists this season.

Thompson's music is laden with that playfulness, but also offers passages of tenderness for the parents, distress during Peter's nightmare, and hope with the dawn of a new day and a fresh blanket of snow. It is a score I would happily listen to again and hope that a recording will be available in the not-too-distant future. Pinkney's libretto expands upon Keats' simple original text to create the universe of family, friends, and neighbors who embrace Peter, with dialogue that, though set to music, feels completely authentic.

It may be of interest that, in spite of the praise Keats received for his book and its enduring popularity over six decades (among other honors, in 2020 it was rated number one on the list of top check-outs of all time by the New York Public Library), there was a period of criticism over the fact that the book's creator, Ezra Jack Keats, was a white Jewish man (born Jacob Ezra Katz) telling a story about a Black child without embedding Peter in any cultural signifiers of urban Black life. Keats reportedly was very hurt by that criticism, as his intent was to be inclusive in telling a story in which a child of any race or nationality could see themself. Whatever your feelings about that criticism, in fleshing out the story, Pinkney, a Black writer who has been nominated four times for the annual NAACP Image Award and has been inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame, provides that cultural context, while extending its embrace of diversity with Latina Amy and her father Papi.

Stage director and choreographer Eboni Adams, making her Minnesota Opera debut, convincingly orchestrates the anxious energy over breakfast as Peter tries to break free and head outdoors, the lively interactions of the children at play, including the tossing of numerous snowballs, and the tenderness of the family winding up their day together.

The physical production sparkles with imagination and wit, opening inside the walls of Peter's cozy apartment, which fly away to reveal the glistening snowscape of the outdoors. On stage we see piles of snow drifting against the buildings and over objects on the ground, creating peaks to climb, slopes to slide. A craftily conceived tree makes its appearance. Later in the evening, a bathtub is cleverly devised for Peter to decompress after his busy day. The delightful set design is the work of Amy Rubin, while Jessica Jahn designed the spot-on costumes, and Karin Olson's lighting design effectively shows reflections bouncing off the snow and the darkening sky as the end of the day arrives.

Far from being disappointed with this opera based on a slim children's picture book, I found myself moved by its tenderness, elated by its playfulness, and inspired by the tonal beauty of its score. The Snowy Day deserves a place in the repertoire of operas frequently re-mounted for audiences to relive its delight, and new audiences, especially young ones, to discover anew.

The Snow Day, presented by Minnesota Opera, runs through February 16, 2025, at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington Street, Saint Paul MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-333-6699 or visit www.mnopera.org.

Music and Orchestrations: Joel Thompson; Libretto: Andrea Davis Pinkney, based on the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats; Conductor: Kelly Kuo; Director and Choreographer: Eboni Adams; Original Production: Omer Ben Seadia; Assistant Director: Margaret Jumonville; Scenic Design: Amy Rubin; Costume Design: Jessica Jahn; Lighting Design: Karin Olson; Wig, Hair and Make-Up Design: Emma Gustafson; Choreography: James Sewell, Eve Schulte; Intimacy Director: Eric "Pogi" Sumangil; Head of Music and Assistant Conductor: Mario Antonio Marra; Principal Musical Coach: Celeste Marie Johnson; Repetiteur: Fumiyasu Kawase; Stage Manager: Patricia Garvey.

Cast: Leah Hawkins (Mama/ensemble), Roland Hawkins II (ensemble), Allen Michael Jones (Billy/ensemble), Zulimar López-Hernández (Amy/ensemble), John Mburu (Daddy/ensemble), Raven McMillon (Peter), Angel Vargas (Jasper/Papi/ensemble), David Wolfe (Tim/ensemble).