Bon Appétit! – comic opera about Julia Child – supports building restoration project

Philadelphia’s historic Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion (LCHC), under the pastorate of The Rev. Teresa ‘Terri’ McNamara, is marking its 150th anniversary this year. Please join church members “Celebrating God’s Welcome” for the fourth event of the sesquicentennial supporting the building restoration fund on Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 4:00 pm as Aurora Classical presents Bon Appétit! by special arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc.*

Bon Appétit! was composed by Lee Hoiby with libretto after Julia Child and adapted by Mark Shulgasser. “Two episodes of [The French Chef] the second WGBH-TV season were conflated: the race between the whisk and the electric beater comes out of a different cake. Props have been used, or not. Hoiby’s music deftly veers around Broadway chansons, early television, and Ravelian apotheosis to underline Julia Child’s compelling domestic uplift.” – Mark Shulgasser

Having studied with composer Gian Carlo Menotti at the Curtis Institute of Music, Hoiby composed Bon Appétit! in 1985 for American actress and friend Jean Stapleton, best known as the off-key singing Edith Bunker on TV’s All in the Family. (Little did the television audience know that Stapleton was a classically trained singer.) Stapleton sang the 1989 premiere at The Kennedy Center with Hoiby conducting a chamber ensemble and later performed Bon Appétit! in an off-Broadway run.

Bon Appétit! is a 25-minute comic opera after which a sample of Julia Child’s flourless chocolate cake and coffee will be served. Aurora Classical’s Contralto Susan Weinman portrays Julia Child with piano accompaniment provided by the gifted Julia Hanna.  “It’s hysterical,” says Weinman, “although this production’s version of Julia is no more the real Julia than Dan Akroyd’s portrayal, she is more like a half-baked (pun intended) cousin and not at all meant to be a true depiction of this great lady.  The recipe for ”Le Gâteau au Chocolat l’Éminence Brune” is indeed Julia’s.  We offer it in the spirit of the lady, made by servantless American cooks.”

Purchase tickets ($25 per person) online at https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z43S/campaign/C-1264X and put “Bon Appetit!” in the note line.

Reserve tickets at 215-567-3668 or email info@lc-hc.org. Thank you in advance for your donation to the building restoration fund. Donors’ names will be listed at the door.

To read the history of Philadelphia’s Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion [2110 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-4405], visit https://www.lc-hc.org/history.

* Bon Appétit!

Music by Lee Hoiby

Text by Julia Child, adapted by Mark Shulgasser

Presented under license from G. Schirmer, Inc., copyright owners.