Mark-Anthony Turnage's new opera is premiered next week at Covent Garden and will be broadcast later on R3 and shown on BBC4. Anyone going to see it? The advertising poster is certainly an eyeful.
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The NYT, critic Anthony Tommasini says last evening's performance of Anna Nicole was 'an improbable triumph for Covent Garden."
It certainly had a real life costume wealth that many operas flourish within. Is anyone here holding tickets for a future performance ? I would love to hear your reflections on this opera.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/ar.../ndGNqsfaSnMIw -
Only via BBC4, though I will probably also listen to the Radio 3 broadcast.Originally posted by Belgrove View PostComment
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Bryn, so let's talk ( through the ether ) later ?
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I'm going next weekend, and will report back.Comment
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Looking forward to your reflections, Belgrove.Comment
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I will definitely listen and most likely watch it then.Originally posted by Belgrove View PostComment
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No word yet from Belgrove... In a way, that's good as I'm going this Wednesday and want to keep an open mind. I absolutely loathed Jerry Springer, the Opera which had the same librettist contribution.Comment
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Just a quick update to say, despite my scepticism, Anna Nicole was absolutely brilliant. Visually and musically it glittered, with great performances from the four principal characters, including Gerard Finley as AN's manipulative Svengali, Howard Stern. Turnage's music, while being uncompromisingly contemporary (in a tonal idiom) was, at all times, completely engaging. It was like the dark side of Sondheim, with flashes of Stravinsky, Janacek, and Carlisle Floyd. At no point did it jar or, even when it leant towards jazz, was anything other than utterly consistent. There was some marvellous choral and vocal group writing. Many passages were breathtakingly beautiful, especially the ending which stayed in the head long after one had left the opera house.
The audience was far younger than normal (and the ticket prices far cheaper) which was a Good Thing. I don't know what some of the older members would have thought at the word "c**t" being sung, and appearing on the surtitle screen. A first definitely, but a rather gratuitous one, and that I suppose is the only thing which let it down. While the libretto was happy to plumb the depths, it was a pity it didn't explore them either, and throw up something a bit more meaningful other than superficial reflections on the nature of fame and the public appetite.
Still, I would say if you are of an open mind, you should definitely go and see this. If you don't, however, I expect it will be back in a few years. It is that good.Comment
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Very interesting Rubbers... I got fed up with seeing Turnage and his wordsmith plugging it on TV, and assumed that they were desperately trying to drum up ticket sales for a turkey. Intriguing that you were so impressed. I shall cast an eye on BBC4 when it is broadcast.... :cool2:"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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I went last night. The production and performance are, as others have said, absolutely first rate and it is a triumph for all concerned.
I was, however, rather less impressed with the work itself. The first half in particular seems to hover uncomfortably between 'musical' and 'opera' and I thought that the quality of Turnage's writing was rather thin. The second half was much better though, with some very powerful and beautiful music. The orchestral interlude was a highlight, as was the ending. On the whole though, I thought it a lesser work than Greek and the Silver Tassie, but very glad to have seen this.
To my mind the libretto was a real weakness - crass and banal and, as rubbernecker has said, it plumbed the depths rather than exploring them. Its supposed insights into the world of z-list celebrity and the exploitation of women were superficial at best. I also don't think that any of the characters were developed through the libretto - any sympathy for the plight of Anna Nicole was more to do with the strength of Turnage's music in the 2nd half and the power of Westbroek's performance.
I also felt that for all the concentration on the exploitation of women in the piece, there was an uncomfortable undercurrent of misogyny in the attitude shown towards Anna Nicole and the other assorted strippers, lapdancers etc on show.
One final comment, on the strength of this production I would love to see a Richard Jones production of the Rake's Progress."I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Bracknell The importance of Being EarnestComment
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I saw this on Saturday when it was being filmed for broadcast later, and it was a remarkable evening’s `entertainment’. As LHC and Rubbernecker have said, the production is really tremendous, but the music does not have the strength provided by the visuals. The sets and costumes, the colour of toothache, artfully celebrate tat. It could have been a Jeff Koons art installation.
The first half is essentially an oratorio, with superb work from the ROH chorus, but the music is as episodic as the stage action, which rapidly provides the back-story and Anna’s rise to jazz inflected rhythms (wonderfully played by the orchestra, which can really swing when needs be). Her fall occupies the second act, and the blues influenced music has a broader scope and greater density and texture. There are many quotes from other works (Kindertotenlieder, The Rake’s Progress, Marie’s lullaby from Wozzeck and Lulu’s demise), the coordination between pit and stage is quite staggering in terms of its precision.
Eva Maria-Westbroek’s performance is first rate and the character she plays eventually does gain one’s sympathy. However, despite being a big role, it is not a generous one in terms of the music she has to sing. The support is uniformly of high quality, although Gerald Finley’s role as the lawyer in her life is rather underwritten. Alan Oke’s portrayal of Marshall, Anna’s octogenarian sugar daddy is a hoot. He arrives, deus ex machina–like, on a stair-lift from heaven (a sly nod in the direction of the very origins of opera), and ends up looking the very image of Jimmy Saville! But the opera does not judge Anna’s motives, she makes Marshall a happy man, albeit briefly. The ending is harrowing, and the final images memorable and disturbing.
I am uncertain whether this work has the quality to enter the operatic cannon. Musically it is the least of the works premiered at the ROH during the last decade. The strengths and weaknesses of the score and libretto become immaterial because of the stunning production and performances. It’s definitely worth watching on BBC4, but I suspect that listening on R3 without the visuals will leave one feeling rather short-changed.Comment
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Pondering, before I post, thank you for sharing your takes on this new opera.
s.Comment
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One critic didn't like it!
Not sure I should have posted link, so Google ""Anna Nicole" "Sunday Telegraph".Comment
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thread diversion: next on the pop culture icon list for a new opera....
Getting away from M-AT's Anna Nicole, I just saw from De Nederlandse Opera's website that Dutch composer Robin de Raeff is writing a new opera inspired by Marilyn Monroe, titled Waiting for Miss Monroe, scheduled for production at DNO in June 2012:
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