An opera, based on the life of late model Anna Nicole Smith, could just be the most X-rated opera ever seen in the Royal Opera House, with its lurid sex scenes and foul language. The storyline covers everything from the late model’s drug abuse to her relationship with J. Howard Marshall, the millionaire octogenarian that she married in 1994, just a year before his death.Critics are already citing one scene as particularly shocking, in which the heroine performs oral sex on her wheelchair-bound boyfriend. It has been composed and conceived by Mark-Anthony Turnage, and the man behind the lyrics is Richard Thomas, the librettist who also wrote 2003’s ‘Jerry Springer: The Opera’.
According to the Times Magazine, Thomas, 60, says that ‘Anna Nicole’ delivers the same kind of drama and comedy as the grand operas of the 19th century. “A lot of people say: ‘Oh, but do you really think Anna Nicole deserves an opera?” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.
“I say yes, she’s more deserving of an opera than any individual who has ever lived. That’s my line because I’m sick of that snobbery. Anna Nicole is grand opera, just like those of old with a mix of comedy and horror,” he stated.
The Royal Opera House is hoping that the subject matter and risque content will attract a younger audience, and has even lowered its prices with a maximum of 75 pounds to reflect that.
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