Marnie (opera)

Marnie
Opera by Nico Muhly
Librettist	Nicholas Wright
Language	English
Based on	Marnie by Winston Graham
Premiere	November 18, 2017 (2017-11-18) English National Opera

Marnie is an opera by Nico Muhly to a libretto by Nicholas Wright based on the 1961 novel by Winston Graham.

Performance history

The opera was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera of New York and was first performed in a co-production of the Met and the English National Opera.[1][2] The production design, which employed video projections, was by Julian Crouch and 59 Productions, the costumes, by Arianne Phillips, and the stage lighting, by Kevin Adams.[1][3][4][5] The opera premiered at the English National Opera in London on November 18, 2017, and at the Met in New York on October 19, 2018, both directed by Michael Mayer.[1][6] The New York performances, conducted by Robert Spano (in his Met debut), featured Isabel Leonard (Marnie), Christopher Maltman (Mark Rutland), Iestyn Davies (Terry Rutland), Anthony Dean Griffey (Mr Strutt), Denyce Graves (Marnie's Mother), Ashley Emerson (Laura Fleet), Stacey Tappan (Dawn), Marie Te Hapuku (Miss Fedder), and Ian Koziara (Derek).[6] The seventh and last performance of Marnie in the New York season was transmitted in high-definition video as part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series.[7] It is now available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand with a subscription or rental fee,[8] but was provided free of charge on April 30 and November 24, 2020, and on June 28, 2021.[9][10][11]

Roles

In an interview during the Met Opera's 2018 Live in HD stream of the opera, Muhly said that he wrote the role of Marnie with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in mind.^[citation needed] She performed the title role in the opera's American premiere, at the Metropolitan Opera, but the role was performed by Sasha Cooke in the world premiere.

Roles, voice types, and premiere cast

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 18 November 2017 Conductor: Martyn Brabbins[12][3][13]
Marnie	mezzo-soprano	Sasha Cooke
Mark Rutland	baritone	Daniel Okulitch
Terry Rutland	countertenor	James Laing
Mrs Rutland	soprano	Lesley Garrett
Lucy	soprano	Diana Montague
Mr Strutt	tenor	Alasdair Elliott
Marnie's Mother	contralto	Kathleen Wilkinson
Laura Fleet	soprano	Eleanor Dennis
Malcolm Fleet	tenor	Matthew Durkan
Dr Roman	bass	Darren Jeffery
Dawn	soprano	Alexa Mason
Miss Fedder	soprano	Susanna Tudor-Thomas
Marnie's Mother in 1940	soprano	Ella Kirkpatick
Little Boy	boy soprano	William Brady
Derek	tenor	David Newman
Shadow Marnie 1	soprano	Charlotte Beamont
Shadow Marnie 2	soprano	Katie Coventry
Shadow Marnie 3	mezzo-soprano	Emma Kerr
Shadow Marnie 4	mezzo-soprano	Katie Stevenson
Chorus (office workers, anxiety chorus, hunt riders, country club guests, funeral attendees)

References

1. "Marnie". ENO. 2017. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
2. Woolfe, Zachary (November 22, 2017). "Review: Nico Muhly's Marnie Brings Hitchcock Into the 21st Century". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
3. Production details, English National Opera
4. Park, Elena (October 17, 2018). "Nico Muhly and Michael Mayer Make Marnie Sing at the Met". Playbill. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
5. Driscoll, F. Paul (January 2019). "Marnie New York City, The Metropolitan Opera, 10/19/18". Opera News. Vol. 8, no. 7. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
6. Marnie, October 19, 2019 (premiere), Metropolitan Opera Archive.
7. Marnie, November 10, 2019 (last night), Metropolitan Opera Archive.
8. Marnie at Met Opera on Demand.
9. "Week 7". www.metopera.org. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
10. "Nightly Met Opera Streams". www.metopera.org. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
11. "Weekly Guide:June 28-July 4". www.metopera.org. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
12. Ashley, Tim (November 19, 2017). "Marnie review – Nico Muhly's psycho thriller sounds beautiful but fails to thrill". The Guardian.
13. Boussaert, Yannick (November 18, 2017). "Elina Makropoulos chez Hitchcock: Marnie - Londres (ENO)". Forumopera.com Le magazine du monde lyrique (in French).

Further reading

• Davidson, Justin (October 21, 2018). "Opera Review: On the Lightness of Nico Muhly's Marnie". Vulture. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
• Fairman, Richard (November 20, 2017). "Marnie – a psychological maze at English National Opera". Financial Times. Archived from the original on October 21, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
• Fairman, Richard (October 18, 2017). "Opera goes to the movies: composer Nico Muhly on taking on Marnie and Hitchcock". Financial Times. Archived from the original on October 21, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
• Gewirtzman, David (November 18, 2017). "First Look at the World Premiere of Nico Muhly and Nicholas Wright's Opera Marnie". Playbill. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
• Midgette, Anne (October 21, 2018). "'Marnie' is all too insubstantial at Met Opera premiere". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
• Tommasini, Anthony (October 21, 2018). "Review: Marnie Stays in the Shadows in Nico Muhly's Opera". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.

External links

• Synopsis at MetOpera.org
• Score details, Music Sales Group
• Marnie, Met Opera on Demand