Susannah

In the biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, a beautiful young woman gets falsely accused of being a hussy. Thinking this an apt metaphor for all the finger-pointing and paranoia he saw during the McCarthy era, American composer Carlisle Floyd transposed the fable to 1950s Tennessee. Just like in the Bible, the fetching Susannah is spied bathing nude in a pond (as it was done in B.C. Israel, so with mid-twentieth-century Appalachia), and indicted for doing so by the so-called devout members of her community. But unlike the Bible’s version of the story, this one boasts gorgeous arrangements of operatic singing layered over a finger-picked, Appalachian-inspired score. 1614 Harmon Pl., Minneapolis; 651-209-6689; www.latteda.org