Anna Nicole is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in 2 acts by Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...

 to an English libretto by Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas (musician)

Richard Thomas is British a musician, writer, and comedy actor. He is best known for composing and scoring the award-winning Jerry Springer: The Opera with Stewart Lee. Thomas collected the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Score in 2004....

. It premiered on 17 February 2011 at the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

, London, directed by Richard Jones

Richard Jones (director)

Richard Jones is a British theatre and opera director.- Early life :Jones was born in London, and studied at the University of Hull and London...

. The story is based on the life of Anna Nicole Smith

Anna Nicole Smith

In 1992 Smith was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March issue of Playboy, where she was listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown. The centerfold was photographed by Stephen Wayda. Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe". Becoming one of Playboys...

. A recording of the opera was broadcast on BBC Four

BBC Four

BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

 and BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....

 on 25 March 2011. The broadcast drew in 67,700 viewers. A special introduction and intermission was filmed - hosted by Clemency Burton-Hill

Clemency Burton-Hill

Clemency Margaret Greatrex Burton is a British actress, novelist, journalist and violinist.-Private life:The daughter of the TV presenter and writer Humphrey Burton and Gillian Hawser, an agent , she attended St Paul's Girls' School and Westminster School and went on to read English at Magdalene...

.

Reception

New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini

Anthony Tommasini

-Early years:Tommasini was born in Brooklyn around 1948 and raised on Long Island. He was admitted to Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music, but chose to matriculate at Yale University in order to obtain a broader liberal arts education...

 described Anna Nicole as "a weirdly inspired work . . . engrossing, outrageous, entertaining and, ultimately, deeply moving." He characterized the libretto as "clever, literate and perceptive" and found the score to be "pulsing, wild and, when called for, yearning. Tommasini praised the initial production as "a musically rich, audacious and inexplicably poignant work."

Roles

Role	Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...	Premiere cast, 17 February 2011 Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : Antonio Pappano Antonio Pappano Antonio Pappano is a British conductor and pianist of Italian parentage.Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano near Benevento, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a...
Anna Nicole	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Eva-Maria Westbroek Eva-Maria Westbroek Eva-Maria Westbroek is a Dutch soprano. She is one of three daughters of the geology researcher and professor Peter Westbroek....
Virgie, her mother	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Susan Bickley
Daddy Hogan, her father	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Jeremy White
Billy, her first husband	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Grant Doyle
J. Howard Marshall, her second husband	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Alan Oke Alan Oke - Career :He studied both at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and with Hans Hotter in Munich. Following a successful career as a baritone he made his debut as a tenor in 1992 singing Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera...
Kay, her aunt	mezzo-soprano	Rebecca de Pont Davies
Shelley, her cousin	mezzo-soprano	Loré Lixenberg
Stern, her lawyer	bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...	Gerald Finley Gerald Finley -Career:He was born in Montreal and received his musical education in St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London, England...
Young Daniel, her son	silent	Andrew Gilbert
Teenage Daniel	baritone	Dominic Rowntree
Larry King Larry King Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards.... , a television journalist	tenor	Peter Hoare
Blossom	mezzo-soprano	Allison Cook
Doctor Yes	tenor	Andrew Rees
Mayor of Mexia	tenor	Wynne Evans Wynne Evans Wynne Evans is a Welsh tenor. Popularly known for his role as the tenor Gio Compario in the Gocompare.com insurance adverts on television in the United Kingdom, he sang, , in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall...
Deputy Mayor of Mexia (Roy Fiction)	baritone	Damian Thantrey
Trucker	tenor	Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts
Dominic Gent	tenor	Dominic Peckham
Patron	baritone	Grant Doyle
Runner	baritone	ZhengZhong Zhou
Meat Rack Quartet	soprano soprano mezzo-soprano mezzo-soprano	Marianne Cotterill Kiera Lyness Louise Armit Andrea Hazell
Marshall's family	mezzo-soprano mezzo-soprano baritone bass	Loré Lixenberg Rebecca de Pont Davies Grant Doyle Jeremy White
Four Lap Dancers	soprano soprano mezzo-soprano mezzo-soprano	Yvonne Barclay Katy Batho Amy Catt Amanda Floyd
Onstage Band		John Parricelli John Parricelli John Parricelli is a jazz guitarist, appearing and recording mainly in the United Kingdom.Parricelli began his career as a guitarist in 1982 and was one of the founding members of the British big band Loose Tubes, with whom he recorded three albums...  (guitarist) John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (musician) John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...  (bass guitarist) Peter Erskine Peter Erskine Peter Erskine is an American jazz drummer and composer. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many famous jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan and Weather Report...  (drummer)

External links

• "A Tabloid Star Is Joining the Sisterhood of the Fallen" by Michael White, The New York Times
  The New York Times
  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
  
  (11 February 2011)