The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, was commissioned by American Lyric Theater and Felicity Dahl – but getting to its triumphant premiere was far from easy! Lawrence Edelson, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of ALT, discusses The Golden Ticket’s journey from a sparkle in the eyes of composer Peter Ash and librettist Donald Sturrock, to the world premiere on June 13, 2010 at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Around the same time ALT was being formed in 2005, an ambitious American composer and British librettist were sending out a sample recording of excerpts from a new opera called The Golden Ticket. About a year later, I discovered this operatic version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while doing research on OPERA America’s website. While I had never heard of the composer, I certainly had heard of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! I was intrigued, and reached out to Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock for more information.
When I reviewed the score and libretto of The Golden Ticket, with their excerpts CD, I became even more intrigued. Donald had captured Dahl’s fantastic imagination in the libretto, and Peter’s score simply blew me away. Not only was the music beautiful and theatrical, it ingeniously used many traditional operatic conventions to help portray different characters. What a wonderful way to introduce young audiences to opera! I felt the piece needed further development, but it was exactly the type of piece that ALT should be championing — both to support gifted composers and librettists, and to bring new audiences to opera.
Shortly thereafter, I met with both of them in London. We went through the entire libretto and score, talked very openly about the challenges of the piece, and discussed where revisions might be appropriate. They introduced me to Roald Dahl’s widow, Liccy, whose passion for the project further fueled my excitement. Liccy made me aware of some legal issues surrounding the rights that would have to be handled carefully, but even those challenges could not dissuade me from moving forward. ALT co-commissioned the completion of the opera with Liccy, and ALT has had the privilege to work with Donald and Peter over the past three years.
On that trip, I learned that the seeds for The Golden Ticket were planted many years earlier. In 1997, Donald, a friend of the Dahl family who had been involved in previous adaptations of Roald Dahl’s works, had been invited to listen to a demo tape of some songs for a proposed new musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He asked his friend and collaborator, Peter, for a second opinion. After listening to the CD, Peter’s response was unexpected. “I’d like to have a go at that — but it needs to be an opera, not a musical!”
Over thirteen years the piece has faced many obstacles. The first ones were legal. Roald Dahl had previously sold the stage rights for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so the rights for an operatic adaptation were not initially available. In addition, writing an opera ‘on spec’ without the support of a major opera company is considered by many to be an exercise in futility, but Peter and Donald were passionate about the project, and committed to making it happen.
Two early advocates for the piece were Sir Trevor Nunn, then Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre in London, and Sue Higginson, who ran their studio that developed new work. They gave Peter and Donald the opportunity to workshop the skeleton of the opera that will premiere in June 2010. Despite the wonderful resources available at the National Theatre, classically trained singers had to be brought in for all of the roles, since members of the ensemble company could not sing the music. A theater company simply could not provide the right environment for the further development and production of a full-scale opera.
This early workshop provided the catalyst for a crucial next step in the opera’s future. Representatives from a small chamber orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, had attended the workshop. They decided to stage a concert performance of the piece in 2001. Although advertised as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — An Opera in Concert, many who attended expected to see a staged musical version of the famous 1970 movie. Shortly afterwards, Peter and Donald renamed their opera The Golden Ticket. Based on this concert, Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts awarded Donald and Peter a grant to record twenty-five minutes of excerpts from the opera on a CD which they then sent out to every opera company in Europe and the United States.
Opera companies receive unsolicited scores and recordings all the time. I was not terribly surprised to learn that their wonderful CD received very little attention. Though many companies will produce contemporary operas once they’ve been proven successful, there are only a few who are willing to take a risk on a new opera — and even fewer willing to take that risk on a work by an emerging composer who is not already in the public eye. Though no traditional opera company was ready to take the opera under its wing, The Golden Ticket represented so many of the reasons ALT was created.
In 2007, ALT held a developmental workshop of the opera in New York City to look at revisions to the score and libretto, and to examine the performance resources that would be necessary to bring it to life. ALT considered producing the opera independently, but ultimately decided that collaboration with another company would be in the best interest of the future of the piece. In early 2008, I reached out to Timothy O’Leary and James Robinson (General Director and Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis) about the possibility of mounting the world premiere. Opera Theatre was not only excited by the potential in The Golden Ticket, but had a history of championing new operas. By the summer OTSL had committed to the project, and ALT put the wheels in motion for a final developmental workshop in New York City. Jim and the design team came to New York for that workshop in April 2009, and since then, OTSL has become an incredible advocate for the piece, securing The Wexford Festival as a second co-producer. Future production plans are in the works, and we are very excited that audiences are finally getting to enjoy this wonderful new opera.
The Golden Ticket would not have been possible without the passion and commitment of many different people around the globe. ALT has been honored to play a role in bringing it to the stage, and grateful to OTSL for their vision in seeing the potential in not only this wonderful new opera, but in a new form of collaboration to bring new works to the public. Thank you to everyone who has played a role on this journey.
LEADERSHIP SUPPORT FOR THE GOLDEN TICKET: Lawrence Edelson, Kevin F. Kotcher, Margret Louis and Robert Ebin, Sherry Snipes-Graham and Family, Carl Raymond, Ellen Was, Sir David Tang, The Dorothy Loudon Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, Pro Musica Tours
“THE OOMPA LOOMPAS” - WORKSHOP SUPPORTERS: Stephen Campanella, Elihu and Marjorie Edelson, William Kapfer and Eric Baker, Adam Meiras, A. Joshua Parrillo, Rorie L. Rueckert, Justin Steensma, Stephen Weiner and Don Cornuet, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The Golden Ticket was commissioned by American Lyric Theater and Felicity Dahl.
American Lyric Theater wishes to thank the following individuals, without whose assistance and dedication, the world premiere of The Golden Ticketwould not have been possible: Amanda Conquy, Felicity Dahl, Jane Hargraft, Jeff Myers, Timothy O’Leary, and James Robinson.
Special thanks to all of the artists who have been involved in the developmental workshops of The Golden Ticket at ALT.