Despite the cool Minnesota fall weather, we were able to attend our yearly appointment to see the latest offering of Mixed Precipitation, the local operetta company, and, in Dr. Falstaff and the Working Wives of Lake County, came away with the up close & personal story of the Environmental Protection Agency’s successful suit to close up the Minnesota Iron Range taconite mines due to the pollution. Sung to the tunes of Bruce Springsteen, Nicolai Otto, and a few pop-music groups, we have here an introduction to the travails which descend upon the taconite miners as their only large industry is forced to close up shop, while brightening the lives of the local fishermen who’ve seen their industry fade under the unceasing pollution of the mining industry.
Meanwhile, a certain Dr. Falstaff has appeared and is chasing the local women about in an uncommonly lecherous manner, no doubt the contribution of Nicolai Otto. While perhaps the discerning critic would ask how these two threads complement each other, it was more than enough for us to see the heinous Falstaff forced to wear moose antlers made of hockey sticks while being serenaded in German by outraged wives of distressed, unemployed men.
Go, have fun, the food was extra good this time (oh, yes, this is a picnic after all), and make some artists happy.
