The story of the American Opera Projects's visually arresting production of Darkling began to unfold inside a scrim box within the Classic Stage Company's black box theater. Designers J. Ryan Graves and Gregory King played with the idea of poetry being also a visual experience. They projected words, images, lines of text, film clips, and even whole sections of Anna Rabinowitz's poem on the scrims: "... lonely nouns of hearts/Pilgriming to wished-for places/ on the verbs/ Of desire — / destinations where nothing feels/ New but an aching need to shout out."

Award-winning poet Anna Rabinowitz's Darkling is a journey to awareness and an important contribution to Holocaust literature. It burrows through pieces of history derived from old letters and photos which she found in a shoebox in her parents' home. The haunting pre-recorded voices searched for their identity and a face, faces that we need in order to feel empathy. With Darkling, American Opera Projects (AOP) continues to explore the horrors of World War II.

Brian DeMaris conducted the quartette with great sensitivity. Mr. DeMaris's skillful phrasing supported the singers and quite miraculously he managed to conquer the dry accoustics of the black box theater. Tenor Jon Garrison delivered one of the highlights of the evening with gloriously voice effortlessly filling the space. Mr. Garrison's character choices as a tormented father were clear and it was easy to identify with the intensity of the situation that his character was facing. Hai-Ting Chinn's mezzosoprano was enchanting and baritone Marcus DeLoach sang Lee Hoiby's song "The Darkling Thrush" with beautiful richness: "That I could think there trembled through/ His happy good-night air/ Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew/ And I was unaware.", illuminating Thomas Hardy poem. Elzbieta Czyzewska, the great Polish actress, was a delight to watch and listen to from start to finish and her Polish accent brought authenticity to the production. She literally stole the show with her unalloyed eloquence and subtlety, even when she was just standing in the shadow behind an ensemble of lipsyncing performers.

The director's program notes were doing their utmost to explain and convince the audience that Darkling is an opera. Mr. Comlish illustrated and invented ample stage business to further prove his point. Yet the internal structure of the piece suggested a staged oratory and the production designs were there to support that approach. One could only hope that the scrim box might have functioned as some kind of corset limiting and focusing the action on the stage. Lighting Designer Brian H. Scott's extensive and inventive use of footlights cast thrilling shadow images on thescrim. It was also a lesson that one needs a moment of stillness for the image to read. In the production of Darkling less would definitively have been more.

Darkling plays at The Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th St. (btwn 3rd and 4th Aves), New York, NY 10003 from February 28th through March 18th, 2006.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticket Central, www.TicketCentral.com and by phone 212-279-4200, 12-8 PM, daily. Tickets are priced at $45-$30, and discounted for students and seniors with valid ID.