Gerald Barry's fast paced Alice opera opened at ROH london this week (its sadly only on for this week too)

See more photos here. 

If you're in a shopping mood, the programme is available to buy direct from ROH. 

Meanwhile I've been confused as to whether or not this production will be filmed or not. The filming icons on the production page are gone all of a sudden.... 

EDIT (9/2/20) Having now received the very beautiful souvenir programme, I can confirm this is a treasure trove of essays. Several have been written by Jenny Woolf. Highly recommended!

Camera Filming CONFIRMED for Gerald Barry's Alice opera

So an extremely interesting development has occured in regards to the Gerald Barry opera premiere at ROH next year. At least 4 performances have the "Cameras filming" icon next to them. 

Filming: there will be cameras in the auditorium or studio. In the main auditorium, some sightlines may be affected by the cameras, and tickets for these seats are sold only over the phone and are not available online. 

ROH only tend to do this when a production is either being filmed for cinema, TV or DVD broadcast or release. 

I doubt this will be for a radio broadcast or CD release as this is not normally indicated by the filming icon and there are at least 4 performances which will be filmed. 

I have mentioned before that the premiere is a co production with Irish National Opera, who have a partnership with Irish TV channel RTE. 

As for what this filming will be used for.... I'll keep you posted as always if I hear anything. 

Gerald Barry's Alice opera gets Official World Premiere at ROH!

Thank you Royal Opera! 

Possibly to make up for the now lost Unsuk Chin Looking-Glass, Royal Opera will instead present the first staged non concert premiere of Gerald Barry's Alice's adventures Underground. This will be in February, and will run for only 9 performances (!) 

Fun, furious, frantic, and utterly fantastic! The surreal world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, both in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, is given an extra twist in Gerald Barry’s operatic treatment. Antony McDonald (of 2018/19’s Hansel and Gretel) directs and designs this new production – the first ever staging of this musically virtuoso opera – with more than a touch of the Victorian toy theatre. The Red Queen, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter: meet a kaleidoscope of colourful characters in this joyful, headlong rush into a world gone deliciously mad.

Last year I reviewed the concert radio broadcast, but this will be a whole production!

Adapting both Wonderland and Looking-Glass, Barry's opera flits wildly from one event to the next, making it one of the most dreamlike Alice adaptations out there!

This new production is with INO (Irish National opera) who have broadcast links with RTE (Irish TV) Hmmm....

ARCHIVE POST: A Review of: Gerald Barry’s Alice Opera (2016)

CAN BE HEARD: HERE (LIBRETTO HERE, YOU WILL NEED IT) 

This 2016 opera by Gerald Barry covers the majority of both Alice books (when I say majority I mean most of the major Wonderland scenes.. then the entirety of Looking-Glass from live flowers onwards) 

The title is Alice’s adventures Underground and its a total misnomer. Not only has it got nothing to do with Carroll’s manuscript original, as I’ve explained above it also adapts the majority of both novels. 

Its incredibly fast paced and as a result, hectic, surreal and very dreamlike. Unlike other versions there appears to be no transitions between scenes. So every scene starts and ends incredibly abruptly.

I like this approach a lot.

Barbra Hannigan plays the role of Alice and is actually really convincing as a seven and a half year old. The characterisation of Alice in this version is adorable, the bizarre singing style that Barry’s singers have to push themselves to really shows. Alice sounds squeaky and in spoken parts, earnestly curious. 

All the other characters of both books are split between 6 singers, Hilary Summers,  Allison Cook, Allan Clayton, Peter Tantsits, Mark Stone and Joshua Bloom. All match up to the enormously complex task admirably. 

The libretto is also a lot of fun, although at times its hard to hear what’s being sung. I’m very glad a typed out Libretto was available. It makes it easier to understand when you can follow along! 

The croquet match is a crazy cacophony of singers singing various scales and things in different languages to match Alice’s confusion over the game. The lobster Quadrille is sung by the entire group of singers in a distorted round. Jabberwocky is recited multiple times in different languages. Overall everything is incredibly inventive and quite possibly not like any opera you’ve ever heard before.