English National Opera (ENO) will perform death row opera Dead Man Walking this autumn, marking the first fully staged professional production from composer Jake Heggie to be performed in the UK.
Directed by Annilese Miskimmon, it also marks the 25th anniversary of the opera, with Christine Rice and Michael Mayes set to perform the lead roles of Sister Helen Prejean and the incarcerated Joseph De Rocher, respectively.
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, also adapted into a 1995 Oscar-winning film of the same name – which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year – starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
The cast also includes Sarah Connolly as Joseph’s mother, who is forced to plead for her son’s life; tenor Ronald Samm as prison chaplain Father Grenville; soprano Madeline Boreham as Sister Rose; baritone Jacques Imbrailo as Owen Hart, the father-of-one of the teenagers murdered by De Rocher; soprano Gweneth Ann Rand as his wife Kitty Hart; tenor Hubert and mezzo-soprano as Howard and Jade Boucher; soprano Olivia Rose Tringham and mezzo-soprano Amy Holyland as nuns Sister Catherine and Sister Lillianne; Marcus Swietlicki and Michael Lafferty as Joseph De Rocher’s brothers; Malachy Frame and Alaric Green as prison guards; baritone Andrew Manea as Warden George Benton; and tenor Zwakele Tshabalala as the Motorcycle Cop.
Taking up the baton is conductor Kerem Hasan, who will lead the orchestra and chorus of ENO.
A new national and international coproduction between ENO, Opera North and the Finnish National Opera, the opera features set design 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 is the most widely performed opera of the 21st century, with more than 80 productions worldwide since it premiered in 2000 at San Francisco Opera, which originally commissioned the work.
Dead Man Walking opens at London Coliseum from November 1 for a limited number of performances. Tickets here.