The Royal Opera House’s award-winning, lavish production of ANNA NICOLE comes to BAM this month (photo by ROH/Bill Cooper)
NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
September 17-28, $25-$235
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.roh.org.uk
Opera can tend to be a bit high-brow, but British musician, composer, and actor Richard Thomas tends not to choose the most erudite, cerebral subjects for his operas. Ten years ago, Thomas collaborated with Stewart Lee on Jerry Springer: The Opera, which was indeed about the daytime talk-show host; the show went on to win a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Next, Thomas turned his attention to another controversial pop-culture figure, Anna Nicole Smith. Anna Nicole, which premiered in February 2011 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, comes to BAM for seven hotly anticipated performances September 17-28. The two-and-a-half-hour show is presented with New York City Opera, whose chorus and orchestra are part of the production; Sarah Joy Miller plays the title character, who lived a tragic only-in-America tabloid life, with James Barbour as her father, Ben Davis as her first husband, Robert Brubaker as her second husband, Mary Testa as her aunt Kaye, and John Easterlin as Larry King. The score was composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage (Greek, The Silver Tassie), while Thomas wrote the libretto; Richard Jones (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) directs, with Steven Sloane conducting. Nicky Gillibrand designed the costumes, with sets by Miriam Buether and choreography by Aletta Collins. On September 16 at 7:00 ($15), Turnage, Thomas, and Jones will be at BAMcafé for the discussion “The Making of Anna Nicole,” moderated by Elaine Padmore. And on September 22 at noon, in conjunction with the Brooklyn Book Festival, Simon Critchley will host the free talk “On Truth (and Lies) in Beauty” with Hilton Als and Alexander Nehamas.