Raw milk farmer celebrates acquittal with operetta — “Milk Trial by Jury” opens tonite at Symphony in the Barn

From a post yesterday on Toronto Life.com:

A celebratory moment from a dress rehearsal of "Milk Trial by Jury", which opens tonight.

“Remember Michael Schmidt, the dairy farmer that went through a long court battle after being charged with distributing raw milk? Well, looks like Schmidt is extending his fame with a comedic operetta, Milk Trial By Jury, about his saga. (We’re curious how he’ll pull off the police raid with musical pizzazz.) Its three-day run begins tomorrow (quick, get on the ticket-purchasing!) at Schmidt’s own arts venue Symphony in the Barn in Durham and stars Donna Ellen Trifunovich from the Vienna State Opera as well as tenor Mitch Smolkin….”

From Brad Frenette, in yesterday’s National Post:

“…In January, Michael Schmidt was acquitted in a Newmarket court of 19 charges of distributing raw milk and raw milk products. In the months since, the 54-year old raw milk activist didn’t just go quietly back to his farm. He wrote an operetta.

Milk Trial by Jury, a comic operetta adapted by the farmer from a work by Gilbert & Sullivan will open on Friday at Schmidt’s performance venue (for which he serves as artistic director), located in his Glencolton Farms in Durham, Ontario.

According to a press release sent today, the staging will be a “musical retelling of his legal battle with powerful lobby groups and provincial bureaucrats emerged from Schmidt’s January acquittal on charges relating to his dairy operation”.

The production, which will run through the weekend, stars Donna Ellen Trifunovich, Resident Soloist at the Vienna State Opera and a “high-energy neo-vaudeville” act featuring Second City grads called A Swell Chaos….”

Get full details from the symphony in the barn website.