"Tonya & Nancy:
The Rock Opera" Info
TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA has now been performed on both coasts, and both productions were hailed as 'brilliant.'
TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA premiered in a new 2011 production in January at the American Repertory Theater's Oberon Theater, produced by Paul T. Boghosian and Harborside Films. Media coverage included the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, WBUR, WGBH TV and radio and Fox28, Boston. Author Steve Almond on WGBH Boston called the show 'brilliant' and 'one of the most exciting spectacles I've ever seen.' The rock opera was first performed in 2008 in Portland, Oregon, with Tonya Harding herself enthusiastically in attendence, inspiring nationwide media coverage by
AP,
CNN,
FOX,
GOOD MORNING AMERICA and more. Reviews called the show "BRILLIANT AND TOUCHING."
The rock opera features libretto and concept by Elizabeth Searle and music by Michael Teoli. The show has been featured in articles in the Portland Oregonian ('TONYA' ROCKS THE STAGE), the Boston Globe (WHY TONYA HARDING VERSUS NANCY KERRIGAN MAKES A PERFECT ROCK OPERA), and elsewhere. TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA had its initial run extended due to popular demand. The new 2011 production was invited back for a critically acclaimed Return Engagement at the ART's Oberon Theater in summer, 2011 (see review quotes below). Check Events for info. on forthcoming performances in the Boston area and beyond.
Visit TONYAANDNANCYTHEROCKOPERA.com
Elizabeth Searle wrote the libretto and composer Abigail Al-Doory Cross the music for TONYA AND NANCY: THE OPERA. The original one-act chamber opera based on the infamous Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan ice scandal was performed in 2010 in Minneapolis and St. Paul, with previews 'on ice.' The American Reperatory Theater’s 'new space for new works,' the Zero Arrow, hosted the chamber opera premiere in May, 2006, produced by Tufts music. Media coverage included Associated Press, ESPN Hollywood, Sports Illustrated, The London Times, The Boston Herald, the New York Times and National Public Radio. The chamber opera was chosen as one of the top 3 new operas of 2007 by Opera Vista.
The new production of TONYA & NANCY: THE OPERA was performed in FEB. 2010 by Mixed Percipitation in Minneapolis (Bedlam Theater) and St. Paul (Camp Bar Theater), with previews 'on ice'; see Events.|
Kristen Sergeant and Margaret Hunter as 'Tonya and Nancy' director: Meron Langsner photo: Charles River Media Group |
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MEDIA QUOTES:
For the ROCK OPERA:
From Steve Almond on WGBH Boston (Feb 1, 2011):
“One of the most exciting spectacles I've ever seen... brilliant new production...Truly the triple lutz of Rock Operas based on Olympic skater related crime...Amazing music... A deep sympathy for all the characters...Remarkable”
From The Boston Herald; (July 20, 2011):
“A Real Knee-slapper... undeniably entertaining...BLACK SWAN on ice... Happily Elizabeth Searle's and Michael Teoli's rock opera lives up to the madness...You feel for Nancy and yes, Tonya, almost as much as you laugh at them...When Tonya & Nancy lands a moment...it's like watching a skater land that perfect triple Lutz.”
From the PORTLAND MERCURY:
“BRILLIANT AND TOUCHING...SOMETHING MARVELOUS...”
From EDGE; (July 21, 2011):
“The psychic debris! The battered knee! The rocking and rolling sensation TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA is trash-tastic!... The show possesses AN INSANE ENERGY... Venue, music, choreography and too-trashtastic tale of rivalry all become ONE WILD THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE...”
From THE NOISE; (Sept, 2011):
“An explosive cabaret of over-the-top rock tunes sung with operatic glass-shattering intensity and accompanied by off the wall dance numbers. Not to mention a storyline so melodramatic, duplicitous and droll, it's downright Shakespearean...”
From THE BOSTON PHOENIX; (July, 2011):
“Absurdly FUNNY... surprisingly POIGNANT moments amidst the comedy and a ROUSING SOUNDTRACK...”
From Audio review by Richard Cambridge on ArtSake; (July, 2011):
“A stunning visual and sonic experience, a riveting hour-long motion poem and roller coaster ride into American hyperculture: the Kerrigan-Harding affair we all witnessed, but this time with the masks peeled back...A cautionary tale that makes us the wiser for witnessing it...”
From THE COLUMBIAN:
“DARKLY COMIC... A FASCINATING EXPERIMENT”
From the PORTLAND OREGONIAN (front page story):
“'TONYA' ROCKS THE STAGE...”
From THEATER MIRROR (reviewing Rock Opera songs from Boston Cabaret's
Songwriter's Showcase, 2008):
“'Both Tonya and Nancy skate on hilariously thin ice in Elizabeth Searle's quirky Rock Musical...the Searle/Teoli Rock Opera has show-stopping numbers...There is something new under the sun...”
For the original CHAMBER OPERA:
From NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO:
“Knee whacking as opera-- This is irresistible!”
Bill Littlefield, Only A Game
From ASSOCIATED PRESS:
“Breaking from the made-for-TV mode, [Tonya] is not put on display for mockery or scorn. The opera is a brutal expose on Harding's home life, showing her as a victim of maternal and spousal abuse. You see her face contort with real fear when her duet with husband Jeff Gillooly twists into a wife-beating tango... The verismo production portrays the skaters not as rivals but more as a pair, singing for the audience's sympathy...”
From THE BOSTON HERALD:
“Loved the opera. It’s a real
knee-slapper!”
Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, Inside Track
From SPORTS ILLUSTRATED On Campus, rating the opera:
“Hot”!
From ESPN MAGAZINE:
“Art imitates sports history... [‘Nancy’ is] the role of a lifetime.”
From THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN:
“Edgy and dark and musically funny...”
“An opera that involves everything from domestic fury to knee-whacking... A complex classical piece that pops with intensity...”
“The [Preview] crowd roars... Halfway up the theater, a handful of audience members-- friendlies, obviously-- hold up big white scorecards. They read: ‘6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0’”