Chicago Opera Theater premiered a one-act opera, “Before It All Goes Dark,” in two performances over Memorial Day weekend at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago. Semi-staged with chamber orchestra conducted by Joseph Mechavich, the compact work was commissioned by Seattle-based Music of Remembrance. Acclaimed for developing new works that confront compelling issues such as the separation of families at the US-Mexico border, the worldwide refugee crisis, and the struggle for women’s rights in Iran. “Before It All Goes Dark,” which played in Seattle and San Francisco before its brief Chicago run, has unique local appeal, since it tells a story about an area Vietnam veteran that was uncovered by a local reporter some 20 years ago.

The performances by bass-baritone Ryan McKinny at Mac and mezzo-soprano Megan Marino as Sally/Misha/Emil—engaging as they were—became more compelling from the backstory of the opera, which was composed by Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer. The program in the jewelbox Studebaker included a wonderfully delivered precis by Mina Miller, founder of Music of the Remembrance, which since 1998 has commissioned 45 new works.

“Before It All Goes Dark” is based on an intriguing story series first reported by Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich in 2001. Reich was on stage prior to the performance, in conversation with librettist Scheer, and shared with the audience the genesis of the tale.

As Reich tells it, he had gotten wind of a report that a museum in Prague was in possession of a trove of fine art looted by Nazi’s from pre-war Prague resident Emil Freund, who was Jewish. The museum had been charged by authorities with finding the rightful heir to this valuable legacy. But they did not know where to find him or her.

So Reich made it his personal quest to ferret out who that might be. Reich also hid his research from his editors, “Or they would have said, ‘Have it by Thursday,” Reich related. This was in the time before the Internet had simplified genealogical searches, so Reich searched obituaries and surveyed the descendants of Freund listed under “survived by.” He went through the generations until he tracked down the likely sole survivor and heir: Gerald McDonald, a Vietnam veteran who happened to live in Lyons, IL.

Reich set out for McDonald’s home, and once there was greeted by heavy metal music blasting inside, so loud he knocked for 20 minutes before McDonald somehow heard him, and beckoned him to enter. Reich told him the news: that he was likely the sole heir to the artwork in Prague, with the added implication: his ancestors were Jewish.

McDonald opened a strongbox, and withdrew birth and death certificates that confirmed his lineage. Despite being in fragile health—sick with Hepatitis C, desperately needing a liver transplant and was on many medications—within weeks, Mac, as he was known, scraped together airfare and was on a plane for Prague, accompanied by Tribune reporter Reich. The capper: once museum officials learned there was indeed a live heir intent on claiming the paintings, the artwork was designated a ”national cultural treasure,” preventing their removal from Prague. All this is recounted in articles by Reich.

Fast forward 20 years, and Reich encountered composer Jake Heggie, who had a commission for an opera from Music of Remembrance, and seeking a story with passion and drama to frame it. Reich suggested the story of Mac, and “Before It All Goes Dark” is the outcome.It is also the closing performance for Chicago Opera Theater's 50th season.

The opera itself, in rough Chicago vernacular laced with expletives, expressed with muscular clarity by the principal singers, is a compact and relatively short piece—just one act. To create the stage production, projections are used, including scenes from Prague, the planes and trains that conveyed Mac to his meeting with destiny, the art museum, and Freund’s home and parlor. To give the piece further context and heft, the program was extended to include an evening concert in Freund’s parlor, with eight short works by composers who died in the Holocaust.

Whether this is a timeless work that will be revived in future repertoires remains to be seen. It did not carry for me the emotional gravity of a previous work, “Soldiers Song,” that Chicago Opera Theater produced at the Epiphany Center last year. But “Before It All Goes Dark” has unquestionably captured something uniquely Chicago, yet universal in its emotional appeal.