Anna Nicole Smith’s life to be given ‘operatic treatment’

(HMG) – Anna Nicole Smith’s train-wreck seems a  life is a natural for a movie drama, I just never pictured it as high art worthy of operatic treatment.  The former stripper and Playboy centerfold went on to find fame as a model and star in movies, married an aging oil tycoon J Howard Marshall, who was 63 years her senior, before passing on in 2007 at the age of 39 after an overdose of prescription drugs. Yep it’s a rags to riches story with a tragic ending, if I ever heard one.  Her life will now be depicted in an opera, which will be staged at one of the UK’s most venerable institutions, the Royal Opera House. The opera, called Anna Nicole, will receive its world premiere on February 17 next year. While Anna Nicole the opera brings credibility with one of Britain’s leading composers Mark-Anthony Turnage participating, it is also being co-written by Richard Thomas, who was behind the West End hit Jerry Springer. His controversial Springer show led to thousands of complaints in 2005 when BBC2 agreed to screen a performance, with threats made against some of the then BBC governors. The Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will play Anna Nicole. “Anna Nicole,” will also feature a libretto by Richard Thomas, and reportedly focuses on Smith’s life and ends with her death in 2007 from an apparent drug overdose.

Source