Minnesota Opera’s production of “The Snowy Day” takes its audience into the world of the 1963 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book by author and mixed media artist Ezra Jack Keats. The opera, which was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera and premiered in 2021 in Texas, gets a new orchestration by composer Joel Thompson for this production, commissioned by the Minnesota Opera.

Directed and choreographed by Eboni Adams, the production is most successful when it embraces the simplicity of Keats’ striking images.

Librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney has expanded Keats’ sparse text into scenes and dialogue, at times adding characters like Amy, performed by Zulimar López-Hernández, whom the main character, Peter, played by Raven McMillon, befriends in his adventures.

The librettist has also added the dimension of racial context missing from Keats’ story. While ground-breaking for its depiction of a Black child in a children’s book, “Snowy Day,” written by a non-Black author, didn’t address race. In the libretto, Davis Pinkney writes a beautiful song sung by Leah Hawkins as Mama, where Mama describes her worry for her son as he ventures out of the house. She sings of white snow as the source of her worry, and it’s clear she also means white racism as well.

Perhaps the least successful addition to the story is a dream sequence near the end. While Peter does dream in the book, the opera’s dream sequence moves into surrealism and absurdity. Numerous characters wear costumes identical to the main character’s. It’s both magical and a bit scary, and ultimately not needed.

Jessica Jahn’s costume design beautifully captures the iconic red snowsuit worn by Peter. McMillon spends much of the opera in Jahn’s sprightly red costume with its elfish pointy hood, while the other children boast similarly bright and whimsical snow attire.

Set designer Amy Rubin is often successful in re-creating the look of Keats’ artwork, which the author made with a mix of paint, collage and stamps. Rubin recreates Keats’ blocky geometric buildings and the faint marbled colors of his snowscape scenes.

A scrim allows for stamp-like snowflake patterns to layer the design, and replicates his bold color scheme for the interior scenes, adding a forced perspective to the look.

For the snow scenes, Rubin’s design features a set of snowy slopes made of cloth that are lowered down from the ceiling. They almost seem to have personalities of their own, the way they change shape slightly at different times. They even appeared sinister occasionally.

Joel Thompson leans toward simplicity in the musical score. Solo sections performed by McMillon as Peter and Hawkins as Mama prove the most compelling. Where McMillon’s spritely high notes and playful physicality nurture a whimsical beat to the story, Hawkins’ deep emotion grounds the work.

Thompson also has written pleasing moments of voices coming together. One moment that worked especially well was a quartet of voices featuring McMillon and Hernández plus John Mburu as Daddy, and Ángel Vargas as Amy’s father. With four different vocal lines weaving together, it’s a gorgeous bit of harmony.

Conductor Kelly Kuo draws out a bright sound from the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. They incorporate elements of jazz into the contemporary opera sound and help set the scene for the rather magical day.