Bud Roach, Xin Wang and the Elmer Iseler Singers in Pimooteewin: The Journey, written by Tomson Highway and Melissa Hui. (Cylla von Tiedemann/Soundstreams)

Pimooteewin: The Journey, a Cree opera written by Tomson Highway, is packing up its cast of more than 35 dancers, singers and musicians and heading for a tour of Northern Ontario.

The opera, said to be the first in Cree, debuted last February in Toronto and this tour will be the first performance since.

It's unusual to see a production of this size in the towns involved — Timmins, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Moosonee and Moose Factory.

The opera's director and choreographer Michael Greyeyes said Pimooteewin is expected to appeal to smaller communities where natives and non-natives live together.

"When culture is alive, it's dynamic and relevant. Our culture, Cree culture, is exactly that — it's always being redefined, reinvented, reinvigorated and so for us to in effect hijack the form of opera to tell our stories, Cree stories, I think is a really crucial lesson that we share with these communities," he told CBC News.

'What's unique about touring in the North is that for the entire community … this is somewhat of a big deal. Everyone turns out.'—Pimooteewin director Michael Greyeyes

The libretto is by Highway, the acclaimed writer of the play The Rez Sisters and novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, and the music by award-winning Canadian composer Melissa Hui.

The opera tells the story of Trickster, a traditional figure from native mythology, and the Eagle, who get to talking about how much they miss friends who have died. They decide to visit their friends in the land of the dead and carry them back to the land of the living hidden in a basket. Their plans go awry, as the spirits escape the basket on the journey home.

"The story is a classic Trickster tale. The humour is in the fact that Trickster is trying something that to all intents and purposes sounds like a good idea, but in fact, it never is," Greyeyes said.

The piece is performed by tenor Bud Roach as the Trickster, and soprano Xin Wang as Eagle, both from the original cast, with newcomer Meegwun Fairbrother as the narrator.

The backbone of the music is provided by the 20-person Toronto choir, the Elmer Iseler singers. "One of the principal things I realized when we were staging this opera — I knew always that what was important was to stage it so we could hear the music more eloquently," Greyeyes said.

Spare staging emphasizes the music

"In some sense the staging is minimal, I [wanted to] let the beauty of the music and the voices shine through."

Greyeyes has danced with the National Ballet and is both a choreographer and acting coach, as well as the director of Pimooteewin.

In staging the opera, he added yet another multicultural element — the presence of kurokos, stagehands who are used in Japan's Kabuki theatre to manipulate stage props and bring wind and weather to the stage. While in Japanese theatre, the audience learns to ignore the figures, Greyeyes said he cast dancers in the roles of the kurokos to add drama to the action.

"Our kurokos are meant to be noticed. At times they're kind of enablers to Trickster and Eagle; other times they're kind of extensions to the Elmer Iseler Singers; other times they're working with puppets," he said.

When Eagle and Trickster steal the souls from land of dead, they hide them in a basket of stretchy fabric.

"The dancers start making impressions in the fabric with their hands and faces and for most people that saw the show that was one of the most significant and dramatic moments of the piece," Greyeyes said.

Larger stages will give dancers more scope

During the Northern Ontario tour, he plans to enhance the dancers' contribution to the production.

Because many of the venues are larger than the Jane Mallet Theatre where the opera was first performed, Greyeyes plans to use the space to give more rein to his dancers. He's hired two women with strong dance backgrounds for the roles.

The only other change planned from the original production is that only a drummer and keyboardist will be on hand to provide music. The piece was written originally for a seven-member chamber group.

A small advance crew will visit the communities ahead of each performance, to give workshops for students.

The tour is being sponsored by Soundstreams, whose artistic director Lawrence Cherney, originally commissioned the opera.

Greyeyes said it's fun to tour such small communities because of the warm reception from audiences.

"What's unique about touring in the North is that for the entire community — unlike in Toronto where there are 80 shows going and you've never heard of any one of them — this is somewhat of a big deal," he said. "Everyone turns out."

The Northern Ontario tour runs from April 27 to May 15.

If all goes as planned, Pimooteewin will also tour Western Ontario and Quebec. It has also applied for a place in Vancouver's 2010 Cultural Olympiad.