''The Golden Ticket'' is an opera based on Roald Dahl's classic 1964 book ''

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The story was originally ...

'' by the contemporary American composer

Peter Ash Peter Ash (born 4 February 1985) is an English actor from Newton Heath, Greater Manchester who has starred in British television series such as ''Casualty'', ''Footballers' Wives'', ''Hollyoaks '' and ''Coronation Street''. Early life He atten ...

, with a libretto by Donald Sturrock. ''The Golden Ticket'' was commissioned by

American Lyric Theater American Lyric Theater (ALT) is an opera company based in New York City and they specialize in the development of new works. It was founded by Lawrence Edelson in 2005. Programs American Lyric Theater's Composer Librettist Development Program i ...

, Lawrence Edelson, Producing Artistic Director; and

Felicity Dahl Felicity Ann Dahl ( D'Abreu; born 12 December 1938) is a British film producer who married the author Roald Dahl in 1983. She was previously married to Charles Reginald Hugh Crosland. The quietly spoken Dahl gave a rare interview in November 2008 ...

. It premiered at

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by th ...

on June 13, 2010 in a co-production between OTSL, Ireland's

Wexford Festival Opera Wexford Festival Opera () is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. The festival began in 1951 under Tom Walsh and a group of opera lovers who quickly gener ...

, and

History

''The Golden Ticket'' was originally conceived as a project for London's

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

, but early workshops initiated by the composer and librettist revealed the challenges of producing an opera under the auspices of a theater company that did not regularly employ classically trained singers. An early concert version of the score was presented by the

Manchester Camerata The Manchester Camerata is a British chamber orchestra based in Manchester, England. A sub-group from the orchestra, the Manchester Camerata Ensemble, specialises in chamber music performances. The orchestra's primary concert venue is The Bridg ...

shortly thereafter. This concert was considered by most to be a failure, in part due to the fact that family audiences had expected a fully staged version of ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' – not an opera in concert. After receiving funding from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts in the UK, Ash and Sturrock created a 25-minute recording of excerpts of the opera to promote it to potential producers. In 2006, this recording came to the attention of American Lyric Theater's Producing Artistic Director, Lawrence Edelson, who commissioned the completion of the opera in partnership with Felicity Dahl, widow of Roald Dahl. American Lyric Theater developed the opera over a three-year period, including two extensive workshops in New York City, prior to partnering with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2010 for the world premiere production.New Operas for New Audiences – The Golden Ticket

Musical forces and language

The opera is written for a virtuoso

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

of 23 players, a cast of 12 principal singers, and a chorus of 24 adults with an optional children's chorus. No children's chorus was used in the World Premiere production.

Role distribution

*Charlie: Treble *Willy Wonka: Bass Baritone or Baritone *Mike Teavee: Countertenor *Veruca Salt: Mezzo Soprano *Lord Salt: Baritone *Violet Beauregarde: Coloratura Soprano *Augustus Gloop: Tenor *Grandpa Joe: Tenor *Mr. Beauregarde/Grandpa George: Bass *Mrs. Gloop/Grandma Georgina: Dramatic Soprano *Mrs. Teavee/Grandma Josephine: Contralto or Mezzo Soprano *Candy Mallow/Squirrelmistress: Mezzo Soprano Chorus solos: *Floor Manager *Camera Man *Herpes Trout *Marvin Prune *Miranda Grope *Salt Worker *Oompa Loompa Chorus of gargoyles, townsfolk, Oompa Loompas, and squirrels

World premiere

The World Premiere Production Team and Cast: *Director: James Robinson *Conductor: Timothy Redmond *Scenic Design: Bruno Schwengl *Costume Design:

Martin Pakledinaz Martin Pakledinaz (September 1, 1953 – July 8, 2012) was an American costume designer for stage and film. He won his Tony Awards for designing the costumes for ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and the 2000 revival of ''Kiss Me, Kate'', which a ...

*Choreographer: Seán Curran A co-production between Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, American Lyric Theater, and Wexford Festival Opera. *Charlie: Michael Kepler Meo *Willy Wonka:

Daniel Okulitch Daniel Okulitch (born January 30, 1976) is a Canadian bass-baritone. He first came to attention on Broadway as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann's production of ''La bohème'' in 2002/03 – a role he repeated when the production traveled to Los Angeles ...

*Mike Teavee: David Trudgen *Veruca Salt : Jennifer Rivera *Lord Salt: David Kravitz *Violet Beauregarde: Tracy Dahl *Augustus Gloop: Andrew Drost *Grandpa Joe: Frank Kelley *Mr. Beauregarde/Grandpa George: Oren Gradus *Mrs. Gloop/Grandma Georgina: Kristin Clayton *Mrs. Teavee/Grandma Josephine: Mary Ann McCormick *Candy Mallow/Squirrelmistress: Jennifer Berkebile

Subsequent productions

The world premiere production is a co-production between Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, American Lyric Theater and Wexford Festival Opera. Wexford has scheduled the European premiere for October 2010. American Lyric Theater is expected to announce additional production plans in late 2010. The Atlanta Opera's production of ''The Golden Ticket'' was performed in March 2012.

Recording

The Atlanta Opera production was recorded in March 2012 with the following cast: *Benjamin P. Wenzelberg - Charlie *Daniel Okulitch - Willy Wonka/Mr. Know *Kristin Clayton - Grandma Georgina/Mrs. Gloop *Jamie Barton - Grandma Josephine/Mrs. Teavee *Keith Jameson - Grandpa Joe *Jason Hardy - Grandpa George/Mr. Beauregard *Gerald Thompson - Mike Teavee *Krista Costin - Candy Mallow/Squirrel Mistress *Abigail Nims - Veruca Salt *David Kravitz - Lord Salt *Ashley Emerson - Violet Beauregard *Andrew Drost - Augustus Gloop *Gabriel Couret - Floor Manager *Nathan Munson - Camera Man *Michael Jones - Herpes Trout *Lara Longworth - Mrs. Trout *Chase Davidson - Marvin Prune *Rebecca Shipley - Miranda Grope *Megan Mashburn - Salt Worker *Marc Porlier - Oompa Loompa Chorus: Michael Arens, Kyle Barnes, Zachary Brown, C. Augustus Godbee, Zachary Heath, Brandon Odom, Stuart Schleuse, Beverly Blouin, Rebecca Blouin, Melissa Fontaine, Jennifer Hamilton, Brishelle Miller, Laura Porlier, Amanda Smolek, Elizabeth Stuk, Laurie Tossing, Michael Gaare, Grant Jones, Stephen McCool, Jason Royal, Iván Segovia Orchestra: Peter Ciaschini, Helen Kim, William Johnston, Charae Krueger, Lyn DeRamus, James Zellers, Jeana Melilli, Kelly Bryant, David Philipsen, David Odom, John Warren, Jan Baker, Mike Muszynsji, David Bradley, Yvonne Toll, Hollie Lifshey, Jonathan Swygert, Mark McConnell, Richard Brady, Donald Strand, Michael Cebulski, Jeff Kershner, John Lawless, Susan Brady, Michael Spassov Conductor: Peter Ash Chorus Master: Walter Huff Albany Records TROY 1381/2

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Ticket Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Operas by Peter Ash English-language operas Operas 2010 operas Willy Wonka Operas based on novels