Turnage: Anna Nicole

Eva-Maria Westbroek (Anna Nicole), Alan Oke (Old Man Marshall), Gerald Finley (The Lawyer Stern), Susan Bickley (Virgie), Jeremy White (Daddy Hogan), Loré Lixenberg (Cousin Shelley), Peter Hoare (Larry King)

Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano, Richard Jones

In a tragic-comic take on the extremes of celebrity culture, composer Mark Anthony Turnage, librettist Richard Thomas and director Richard Jones add Anna Nicole Smith to operas gallery of bad, sad girls. A pneumatic Playboy model who married an octogenarian billionaire, she achieved grotesque fame before her destitute, drug riddled death. With its jazz-coloured score and Eva-Maria Westbroek's starry performance, this is, as the New York Times said: an engrossing outrageous, entertaining and, ultimately deeply moving opera.

"It's a tremendous show...shocking it isn't; stunning it is!" (The Independent)

"The more Turnage and his librettist, Richard Thomas, pile one cringe-making scene upon another, the harder it is to look away...the whole cast is excellent..." (Gramophone)

Extra features
Cast gallery. Illustrated synopsis. Behind the scenes feature including artist interviews.