Muskegon native Chad Johnson stars in Michigan Opera Theatre’s production of “Silent Night.”

An opera about wartime enemies briefly laying down their weapons to share common ground and re-connect as humans?

Huh. You’d think Michigan Opera Theatre quite deliberately chose to open a production of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning show Silent Night—inspired by the 2005 French film Joyeux Noel, about a temporary peace between different factions of World War I soldiers on Christmas Eve—during the week of the most divisive Presidential election cycle in our country’s history.

“We had an orchestra dress rehearsal last night, and I found myself—and my leading lady did, too—we cried all the way through,” said Muskegon native Chad Johnson, who plays a professional German opera singer who quickly finds himself on a battlefield. “It speaks to exactly what’s going on right now in our country, and about finding and focusing on the important things in life.” READ THE REST HERE