The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY celebrates its 50th anniversary season with departures from traditional operatic fare. In addition to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George, an unconventional Broadway musical in both its form and content (previously reviewed), the Festival is presenting The House on Mango Street, a world premiere opera based on Sandra Cisneros’ beloved coming-of-age novel featuring an eclectic score by Derek Bermel, and Igor Stravinsky’s 1951 The Rake’s Progress which employs 18th century forms through a modernist lens. The results of these stylistic blendings are bracingly exciting in both productions.

It’s hard to imagine Mango Street in stage or operative form since the original is a kaleidoscopic series of short vignettes detailing the adolescence of Esperanza, a Latina teen growing up in an immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. The libretto by Cisneros and Bermel fashions the fragments of the novel into a dazzling, cohesive tapestry. Just as the libretto stitches together the myriad threads of Esperanza’s story and her numerous friends, relatives, and neighbors, Bermel’s score incorporates many different musical styles to reflect the diverse milieu of the plot. No less than 13 different genres can be detected, ranging from salsa, ranchera, mariachi, and Tex-Mex to rap and hip-hop with touches of gospel, polka, and klezmer. Somehow these disparate elements come together to form a harmonious whole, under conductor Nicole Paiement’s baton, just as the bits and pieces of Cisneros’ novel do.

Chia Patino’s direction manages to keep the multiple storylines clear with the aid of John Conklin’s suggestive sets, Amith Chandrashaker’s versatile lighting and Greg Emetaz’s evocative projections.

Before the first note of music is played, the audience can hear a strange metallic sound. When the curtain rises, we see that noise is being made by Esperanza (expressive Mikaela Bennett) typing on an old-fashion manual model at what appears to be a kitchen table. Behind here is a scrim upon which dozens of sentences from Cisneros’ novel are projected. From here we are taken into Esperanza’s world as Conklin’s set consisting of two large, wooden-frame houses are rolled on stage. We meet the various characters of the neighborhood as her family moves in. There’s eccentric Cathy, Queen of Cats (delightfully daffy Catherine Thornsley costumed by Erik Teague in imaginative, feline-festooned finery); siblings Lucy and Rachel (funny Samantha Sosa and Kaylan Hernandez) who promise to be Esperanza’s friends forever if she will give them five dollars to buy a bike; Sally (outstanding Taylor-Alexis DuPont), the sassy local flirt who covers up the abuse she suffers at home with a boisterous presence; and cynical landlady Edna (marvelously dry Tzytle Steinman) and her sister Ruthie (magnificently melancholy Natalie Corrigan) who longs for her romanticized past and bemoans her disappointing presence.

Drifting on the edges of the action is Geraldo (heart-tugging Angelo Silva), a food-cart vendor and undocumented immigrant who is tragically shot during a block party. When the police come to investigate, no one can provide his last name or any info about him leading to a wrenching group number on the plight of the undocumented, led by Alicia (bold Sarah Rosales), a college student also dealing with immigration issues. This theme is made even more relevant by the cruel policies of the current Trump administration.

The main thread running through the multiple story arcs is Esperanza’s yearning to escape her neighborhood for the grownup world outside. She reaches a catharsis after being assaulted by two neighborhood boys and is healed by three shaman women in a metaphysical, metaphorical ritual, stunningly staged by Patino. Throughout Mikaela Bennett delivers a complex, compassionate portrait of the conflicted Esperanza both dramatically and vocally in this marvelous House on Mango Street.

Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress also fuses varying styles and timelines. Premiering in 1951 in Venice, Rake’s eloquent, poetic libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman is loosely based on a series of 18th century paintings and engravings by Hogarth depicting the downfall of the morally untidy Tom Rakewell as he succumbs to the temptations of money and the flesh. Stravinsky’s score is a melding of dissonant modernism and classical forms, brought to vivid life by conductor Joseph Colaneri. Director-choreographer Eric Sean Fogel has converted the setting to the time of the composition (Lynly A. Saunders designed the sleek period costumes). Fogel’s fluid, Fosse-like staging keeps the action moving (several of the brothel scenes resemble Fosse’s grope-y groupings in Sweet Charity) and the splendid cast displays impressive vocal chops and acting skills.

Adrian Kramer is a robust, muscular Tom, running the gamut from arrogant self-satisfaction when Tom is on top of the world to desperate desire when he lands in Bedlam asylum believing he is the lovelorn mythological figure Adonis. Lydia Grindatto has a clear, floating soprano as Anne Truelove, Tom’s long-suffering betrothed. Aleksey Bogdanov is a deliciously charming, but ultimately devious devil figure as Nick Shadow, with a devastating bass-baritone. Deborah Nansteel brings panache, flair, and humanity to the usually comic role of Baba the Turk, a bearded lady whom Tom marries for kicks. Marc Webster provides sturdy support as Anne’s father. This is a refreshing new take on one of the most challenging pieces in the modern operatic canon.

The abstract set by John Conklin is transformed into a nightmarish hellscape by Robert Wierzel’s red-tinged lighting and Greg Emetaz’s mod projections.

The House on Mango Street: July 18—Aug. 16. Glimmerglass Festival, Alice Busch Opera Theater, 7300 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, NY. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. glimmerglass.org.

The Rake’s Progress: July 19—Aug. 15. Glimmerglass Festival, Alice Busch Opera Theater, 7300 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, NY. Running time: two hours and 45 mins. including intermission. glimmerglass.org.