A young Playboy model, an octogenarian billionaire husband, intrusive media fascination and a tragically early death. This is a roller-coaster of a real contemporary life for a blockbuster of a contemporary opera by the acclaimed opera composer Mark-Anthony Turnage (Greek and The Silver Tassie) and librettist Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer: the Opera). The story of Anna Nicole Smith is under the brilliant and idiosyncratic direction of Richard Jones and the baton of Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, to make this a major event of the Royal Opera Season.Sex, extreme language and drug abuse are part of the opera ? after all, they were ingredients in a life that went from the dubious glamour of the sex symbol, through long and vicious legal struggles to a fatal overdose. How Anna Nicole was treated and how she was viewed is as much a reflection of the society that hounded her as of her own feelings and ambitions ? Eva-Maria Westbroek creates what is a challenging and complex central role. This new opera is provocative in its themes, exciting in its bravura style and thrilling with its sheer contemporary nerve. Anna Nicole Smith?s life made the news ? you can bet this world premiere will too.
| Release Date: | Mar 2011 |
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| Genre: | Musical / Drama / Comedy |
| Cast: | Clemency Burton-Hill (Herself - Presenter), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Anna Nicole Smith), Gerald Finley (Howard Stern), Alan Oke (J Howard Marshall II), Yvonne Barclay (Lap Dancer), Kathy Batho (Lap Dancer), Susan Bickley (Virgie - Her Mother), Leanne Blossom (Dancer), Amy Catt (Lap Dancer), Allison Cook (Blossom), Marianne Cotterill (Meat Rack Quartet), Rebecca de Pont Davies (Aunt Kay), Grant Doyle (Billy - Her first husband), Wynne Evans (Mayor of Mexia), Sarah Farhie (Actor), Amanda Floyd (Lap Dancer), Andrew Gilbert (Young Daniel), Andrea Hazell (Meat Rack Quartet), Keiko Hewitt-Teale (Dancer), Peter Hoare (Larry King), Suzy King (Actor), Taio Lawson (Actor), Lori Lixenberg (Shelley - Her Cousin (as Loré...), Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts (Trucker), Armit Louise (Meat Rack Quartet), Wei-Chun Luo (Dancer (as WeiChun Luo)), Kiera Lyness (Meat Rack Quartet), Dominic Matthews (Actor), Gemma McFarlane-Edmond (Dancer), Toussaint Meghie (Actor), Damien Miller (Actor), Dominic Peckham (Dominic Gent), Oliver Price (Actor), Andrew Rees (Doctor Yes), Dominic Rowntree (Teenage Daniel), Hannah Rudd (Dancer), Rebecca Scarrott (Dancer), Damian Thantrey (Deputy Mayor of Mexia - Roy Fiction), Jeremy White (Daddy Hogan - Her father), Zheng Zhong Zhou (Runner) |