FULL The Burning Question (Lambert) London 2023 Louise Fuller, Arlene Belli, Harry Grigg, Samuel Lom
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Burning Question
- Composer: Lambert Edward
- Libretto: Norman Welch, Edward Lambert, Ambrose Bierce Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: King's Head Theatre, London, UK
- Recorded: February 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Louise Fuller, Arlene Belli, Harry Grigg, Samuel Lom
- Conductor:
- Orchestra: Elspeth Wilkes, Stephen Westrop, PIANO
- Stage Director: Jenny Weston
- Stage Designer: Tabitha Benton-Evans
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: The Music Troupe
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, gensubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
A new Italian-style comic opera about a female pope who has passed into the afterlife.
Attended by a demonic manservant and an angelic maid, the first female Pope has died. She now wants nothing less than a cosy retirement in paradise, but Someone has other ideas and the elevator going upwards gets stuck. It’s a Day of Wrath! What does St Peter, the Caretaker, know? Does he hold the key to the plot? Accompanied by piano duet and a choir of heavenly voices, this is a satire that confronts the ridiculous, the sublime, love, death and comic opera all at the same time.
On Sunday 1st September 2019, the lift carrying Pope Francis to the Papal balcony got stuck. In the opera, this incident becomes a Dantesque dilemma concerning the destination of the soul. In this case, the Pope, now dead, is female. “She’s done some mighty good by cleansing the Church as only a woman could” – and so she’s now destined to carry on the good work in Hell. Ignacio, the demon valet, Hades’ son, is worried how daddy will react to a woman in charge. In any case, the Pope refuses the offer, but this begs the question – why is the lift not taking her skywards? It takes a visit from St Peter to sort things out: it’s revealed that the Pope had a son from an affair with the Goddess of the Underworld… now a lusty young man, Ignacio’s desire for Arianna, the chambermaid, must produce the sparks that will ignite the cleansing fire of Purgatory.
“Pope Francis has said he got stuck in a lift for 25 minutes at the Vatican and had to be rescued by firefighters. The pontiff apologised to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square on Sunday for showing up seven minutes late to his traditional noon appointment with the public. Apparently referring to electric power, Francis said a “drop in tension” caused the problem. He said he was rescued by Holy See firefighters and asked the people in the square to applaud them.” (The Guardian, 01/09/2019)