2h 30min | Musical | Episode aired 10 November 2018
Serial office-safe thief is finally caught by her latest boss, who then blackmails her into marriage. The psychological underpinnings for her thievery and her rejection of men are revealed.
Director: Habib Azar
Stage Director: Michael Mayer
Conductor: Robert Spano
Non-melodic score, but satisfying and fitting for such a psycho-drama.
Based on the same novel as Hitchcock's Marnie (1964). The most disturbing scene from the film, Marnie's apparent rape by Mark, is not part of this story. Also, the trauma she remembers is not the murder of a man, but the smothering of a baby. The '64 film gives her a clearer reason for her resisting sex than the opera does.
The image above shows the 4 "shadow Marnies", who sometimes sing, but not as soloists. Near the end, we get a long, long list of pseudonyms for Marnie, all with initials MH.
First performed 18 November 2017 (London).
English libretto.
Time: 1959
Place: England
Cast (character list from Wikipedia):
Marnie mezzo-soprano : Isabel Leonard
Mark Rutland baritone : Christopher Maltman
Terry Rutland countertenor : Iestyn Davies
Mrs Rutland coloratura soprano : Janis Kelly
Lucy soprano : Jane Bunnell
Mr Strutt tenor : Anthony Dean Griffey
Marnie's Mother contralto : Denyce Graves
Laura Fleet soprano : Ashley Emerson
Malcolm Fleet tenor : Will Liverman
Dr Roman bass : James Courtney
Dawn soprano : Stacey Tappan
Miss Fedder soprano : Marie Te Hapuku
Little Boy boy soprano : Gabriel Gurevich
Derek tenor : Ian Koziara
Rated 7.7 (11)
MetOpera, cond. Spano; 8
