Wake (opera)

Last updated

Wake
Opera by Giorgio Battistelli
LibrettistSarah Woods
LanguageEnglish
Premiere
14 March 2018
Birmingham
Website www.birminghamopera.org.uk/wake-a-new-opera-for-birmingham

Wake is an opera with music by Giorgio Battistelli to a libretto by Sarah Woods. It was premiered on 14 March 2018 by Birmingham Opera Company, in a production by Graham Vick. [1]

The opera, which lasts about 80 minutes, is based on the story of the raising of Lazarus. The production involved participation by non-professionals and audience, who were asked on entry to don veils in mourning for the deceased Lazarus. [2]

Reviews of the opera were mixed. The Stage described the work as an "ambitious immersive opera that lacks clarity" in which the audience is steered around four trailer platforms to be confronted with a variety of scenes including police violence and gay exclusion. [2] The Times found Batistelli's score "diffuse, [with] dated and forgettable avante-garde effects that Penderecki and Berio were doing better half a century ago", and concluded that "unlike Lazarus, it's not likely to be revived." [3] However, it received five stars from the Birmingham Post, who described it as "a sold out success" and stated that "Wake continues BOC's record of combining innovation and engagement with sheer quality". The Arts Desk also wrote an enthusiastic review, describing the piece as "a musical-dramatic experience that leaves you with ears buzzing, mind racing, and ready to reassess everything you thought you knew about opera". [4]

Roles

RoleVoice typePremiere
14 March 2018
Birmingham Opera Company at B12 Warehouse, Birmingham
Conductor: Jonathon Heyward
Lazarus tenor Joshua Stewart
Jesus baritone Elliott Carlton Hines
Martha soprano Nardus Williams
MarysopranoMimi Doulton

Related Research Articles

<i>The Pirates of Penzance</i> 1879 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where it was well received by both audiences and critics. Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances.

<i>The Mikado</i> 1885 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.

<i>H.M.S. Pinafore</i> 1878 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London on 25 May 1878, and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. H.M.S. Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Opera</span> Opera company in New York City

The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as the general manager. The company's music director has been Yannick Nézet-Séguin since 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English National Opera</span> Opera company based in London

English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patti LuPone</span> American actress and singer

Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972 she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Welsh National Opera (WNO) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days the company gave a single week's annual season in Cardiff, gradually extending its schedule to become an all-year-round operation, with its own salaried chorus and orchestra. It has been described by The New York Times as "one of the finest operatic ensembles in Europe".

<i>Jerry Springer: The Opera</i> 2001 British musical by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee

Jerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the talk show Jerry Springer. It contains irreverent treatment of Christian themes, extensive profanity, and surreal images, such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival</span> International festival for Gilbert and Sullivan performance held in England

The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival was founded in 1994 by Ian Smith and his son Neil and is held every summer in England. The two- or three-week Festival of Gilbert and Sullivan opera performances and fringe events attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from around the world. The Festival was held in Buxton, Derbyshire, from 1994 to 2013, and from 2014 to 2022, it was held in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, usually with a week in Buxton preceding the main part of the Festival. The entire Festival returned to Buxton in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D'Oyly Carte Opera Company</span> British theatre company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The company was revived for short seasons and tours from 1988 to 2003, and since 2013 it has co-produced four of the operas with Scottish Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead</span> British media and art executive (born 1951)

Anthony William Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, is a British life peer. He was Director-General of the BBC between April 2013 and August 2020, and chaired the board of trustees of the National Gallery from September 2020 to May 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light Opera of Manhattan</span>

Light Opera of Manhattan, known as LOOM, was an off-Broadway repertory theatre company that produced light operas, including the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and European and American operettas, 52 weeks per year, in New York City between 1968 and 1989.

<i>Falsettos</i> 1992 musical by William Finn and James Lapine

Falsettos is a sung-through musical with a book by William Finn and James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Finn. The musical consists of March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1990), the last two installments in a trio of one-act musicals that premiered off-Broadway. The story centers on Marvin, who has left his wife to be with a male lover, Whizzer, and struggles to keep his family together. Much of the first act explores the impact his relationship with Whizzer has had on his family. The second act explores family dynamics that evolve as he and his ex-wife plan his son's bar mitzvah, which is complicated as Whizzer comes down with an early case of AIDS. Central to the musical are the themes of Jewish identity, gender roles, and gay life in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Talawa Theatre Company is a Black British theatre company founded in 1986.

<i>Lend Me a Tenor</i>

Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End (1986) and Broadway (1989). It received nine Tony Award nominations and won for Best Actor and Best Director. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in twenty-five countries. The title is a pun on "Lend me a tenner".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park Theatre (London)</span> Theatre in Finsbury Park, London, England

The Park Theatre opened in Finsbury Park, north London in 2013. It describes itself as "a neighbourhood theatre with global ambition", offering a mixed programme of new writing, classics, and revivals. As well as the main auditorium seating 200, the building includes a 90-seat studio theatre, a rehearsal space and a café bar.

<i>Mittwoch aus Licht</i>

Mittwoch aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting, four scenes, and a farewell. It was the sixth of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche, and the last to be staged. It was written between 1995 and 1997, and first staged in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Pinter Theatre</span> West End theatre in London, England

The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011, is a West End theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted (stucco) stone and brick. By 1884 it was known as simply the Comedy Theatre. In the mid-1950s the theatre underwent major reconstruction and re-opened in December 1955; the auditorium remains essentially that of 1881, with three tiers of horseshoe-shaped balconies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abigail Kelly</span> English soprano opera singer

Abigail Kelly is an English soprano opera and concert singer.

Horrible Histories: Live on Stage is the name for a series of stage shows within the Horrible Histories franchise. They are produced by The Birmingham Stage Company.

References

  1. Wake: A New Opera for Birmingham, Birmingham Opera Company website, accessed 16 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 George Hall, "Wake review at B12 Warehouse, Birmingham", 15 March 2018, The Stage website, accessed 16 March 2018.
  3. Richard Morrison, "I prayed for the end", The Times , 16 March 2018, Times 2 section, p. 15.
  4. "Wake, Birmingham Opera Company review - power to the people". theartsdesk.com. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.