Sonntag, 20. Mai 2012

Judith Weir: Miss Fortune (Royal Opera House London 2012)


Judith Weir
Miss Fortune

Royal Opera House Covent Garden März 2012

Tina | Emma Bell
Simon | Jacques Imbrailo
Fate | Andrew Watts
Donna | Anne-Marie Owens
Hassan | Noah Stewart
Lord Fortune | Alan Ewing
Lady Fortune | Kathryn Harries
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Royal Opera House Chorus
Dirigent | Paul Daniel
Passwort: operalia 

Act I
Scene 1
Tina checks her horoscope; her parents Lord and Lady Fortune host a fabulous party during which they learn that their vast wealth has suddenly vanished in a financial catastrophe. Tina declares that she will find an honest job in the real world. Fate hovers in the background.

Scene 2
Tina finds herself in a sinister street and makes for a brightly-lit building.

Scene 3
The building Tina enters is a garment sweatshop. The tired workers offer Tina a job sweeping the floor, which she accepts, believing it will be her entree into the fashion trade. The workers finish their shift, leaving Tina to guard the premises. A mysterious gang of intruders enters and the workshop is destroyed. Alarmed and helpless, Tina escapes.

Scene 4
On waste ground, Hassan tends his kebab van and sings a poetic aubade. Tina rushes in, distressed; Hassan calms her, and they watch the dawn together. Tina is briefly left in charge of the van. The van starts to shake as a gang of attackers break it to bits; Tina rushes away to escape the violence. Fate’s voice is heard again.

Scene 5
Donna, working in her laundry, ponders the mysteries of the universe. Hassan bursts in, distraught; meanwhile the sweatshop women are packing up and leaving town, following the meltdown of their workplace. Tina appears, stunned and lost; Donna offers her work in the laundry. Tina sadly accepts; Fate sarcastically urges her on.

Simon, a wealthy customer, calls to collect his shirts. Tina turns pale, and tells Donna about her troubles. Donna suspects the involvement of Fate. She tells Tina to confront him, near a wasteland at the edge of town. Tina makes her way there.

Act II

Scene 1
At the deserted location, mystical words emerge from the ruins. Tina calls out to Fate; he replies. They reach an uneasy truce.

Scene 2
Several months later. Hassan begs in the street. Tina does all the work in the laundry, Donna relaxes. News comes of a huge unclaimed lottery win in the next town. Fate arrives, incognito, as a customer in the laundry. He gives Donna a ticket which she can’t match to any item in her shop. Donna throws it away and Tina picks it up absent-mindendly.

A positive atmosphere spreads throughout the laundry. Simon enters to compliment Donna on her exquisite laundering. A ray of light strikes Tina, and Simon is captivated by the sight of her. He recognizes Hassan from his youth, and presses money on him.

The elegant women from Lady Fortune’s party arrive, depressed at the collapse of their own fortunes; the male party guests, also desperate, hope to find the missing ticket for the unclaimed lottery win. Lord and Lady Fortune return, ragged and unkempt, from a frightening foreign exile.

Tina emerges from the laundry with Fate’s ticket. The numbers on it match the lottery win – except the final number, which is one digit out. Tina, moved by everyone’s despair, calls on Fate to re-run the last few seconds. For a moment the action moves backwards; after which, Tina’s ticket is found to be an exact match to the lottery win after all. Tina throws her ticket to the crowd and leaves with Simon for her unknown future. Everyone
celebrates, watched thoughtfully by Fate.

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