Christine Rice and Michael Mayes are now in rehearsals with the English National Opera (ENO) for the upcoming new production of death row opera Dead Man Walking, which comes to the London Coliseum this November.
Marking the 25th anniversary of the opera, it is directed by Annilese Miskimmon, with a score by composer Jake Heggie. Taking up the baton is British-Cypriot conductor Kerem Hasan.
The opera’s plot is based on the true story of a Louisiana nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who becomes the spiritual advisor to a convicted murderer on death row. It is taken from Prejean’s bestselling 1993 memoirs, which were also adapted into a 1995 Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
A new national and international coproduction between ENO, Opera North and the Finnish National Opera, this is the first fully staged professional production of Heggie’s iconic work to be performed in the UK.
Rice plays Sister Helen Prejean with Mayes as the incarcerated Joseph De Rocher.
They will be joined by Sarah Connolly, who plays Joseph’s mother, forced to plead for her son’s life; Trinidadian tenor Ronald Samm as prison chaplain Father Grenville; soprano Madeline Borehem as Sister Rose; and South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo as Owen Hart, the father of one of the teenagers murdered by De Rocher. His wife, Kitty Hart, is played by soprano Gweneth Ann Rand.
The parents of the other murdered teenager, Howard and Jade Boucher, are played by fellow Australians, tenor Hubert Francis and mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby respectively. Joining them as Sister Helen’s fellow nuns Sister Catherine and Sister Lillianne are rising star young singers, soprano Olivia Rose Tringham and mezzo-soprano Amy Holyland respectively.
Completing the cast are Marcus Swietlicki and Michael Lafferty as Joseph De Rocher’s brothers, Malachy Frame and Alaric Green as prison guards, Romanian American baritone Andrew Manea as Warden George Benton and tenor Zwakele Tshabalala as the Motorcycle Cop.
Set design for Dean Man Walking is by Alex Eales, with costumes designed by Evie Gurney. DM Wood is the production’s lighting designer and Imogen Knight is the movement and intimacy director.
Dead Man Walking opens on Saturday, November 1 for six performances: November 1, 4, 12, 18 at 19.00. Nov 8, 15 at 18.00. It is performed in English, with subtitles projected above the stage.
Tickets here.
Top image: The Cast of ENO’s Dead Man Walking 2025, Rehearsal Images © Manuel Harlan (5) (all images supplied)