POV’s Flight: retro take on deeply human tales

As the pregnant Minskwoman, Allyson McHardy begins as unsympathetic: she refuses to fly to Minsk with her husband for no obvious reason, and appears selfish and self-indulgent when she later tries to explain her feelings about being pregnant. Yet McHardy, with her warm and chocolaty mezzo, so easily inhabits the role, she makes it clear that it is fear, not lack of love, driving her hesitation. We are fully on her side by time she finishes. (Opera Canada, Robin J. Miller, Feb 24, 2020)