The Birthday of the Bank

one-act opera by Leonard Lehrman
after Anton P. Chekhov's farce Yubilei

commissioned by Opera America for the
Lake George Opera Festival;

workshopped and presented in sections,
with narration by Rosalind Elias at Lake George,
August 3, 1988;

first presented complete as part of EastEuroFest
co-sponsored by The Long Island Composers Alliance
at Adelphi University (in concert), and semi-staged at
Glenwood Presbyterian Church (Glen Cove),
and New York University, June, 1998;

first completely staged performances at
the Suffolk YM-YWHA Jewish Community Center in Commack,
part of the International Jewish Arts Festival of Long Island,
and at Queens College, Sept. 6 & 30, 1999,
co-sponsored by The Maldeb Foundation.

Program cover/poster by Janis Sabatino Hills--

Kheerin, a bank clerk, is trying to finish his report
so that his director, Shipootchin, can read it at the
celebration of the bank's 15th anniversary.

The director's wife Tatiana and an old woman seeking
help for her sick husband drive him to distraction
and ultimately a fit, wrecking everything.

A spokesman for the delegation of stockholders
reads from a prepared speech but then stops, saying:
"I think we'll come back later..."