Anna Nicole

: an opera (?) between tradition and transgression : a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary enquiry into an ambiguous work

Abstract

In this dissertation, I will analyse whether the opera ANNA NICOLE by Mark Anthony Turnage (music) and Richard Tomas (libretto) is embedded in the tradition of the operatic canon, or if it just transgresses that legacy. It is based on the true life account of Anna Nicole Smith, a Playboy model turned celebrity whose scandalous behaviour was closely followed by the media. I will discuss whether Anna Nicole can be inscribed in the lineage of opera’s other fallen and scandalous women, such as Violetta, Manon or Carmen, and how these “real” life women have been translated into the genre. As some critics contend ANNA NICOLE is a musical, I will also discuss how the work could be defined within the history of musical theatre, looking in more detail into the first 200 and the last 100 years of the genre’s existence, and within musical modernism and contemporaneity. Finally, I will look into the traditions of opera and its reception from the emotions’ viewpoint, especially with regard to the use and effect (or lack thereof) of the lament and the aria, asking whether Anna Nicole humanizes the “real” Anna Nicole Smith, as Violetta may have done with Marie Duplessis. Over the next hundred or so pages, I will examine if this undaunted portray of a celebrity, famous for being loud and vulgar can move us once she faces tragic events, and if her complaint can give us insight into her heart, thus making it possible to have a more clement approach towards her.

Date of Award	22 Jan 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandra Lopes (Supervisor)