At the 2023 Auckland Arts Festival, New Zealand Opera will present the world premiere of its original comedic opera, “The Unruly Tourists.” The show dates for 2022 are March 22nd – March 26th.
The opera rehashes an incident from 2019 involving rude British tourists who littered and spread animosity. The incident generated national indignation and made the tourists the focus of media attention for weeks.
New Zealand Opera thinks the modern tale of “The Unruly Tourists” has the ability to engage a wide audience and present new challenges to the operatic canon.
The play is a comedy that explores themes of identity, groupthink, and the media through a dramatized retelling of events.
Thomas de Mallet Burgess, the General Director of New Zealand Opera, remarked in a news release, “It is an exciting time in the world of opera to be able to produce a modern opera comedy that is universally attractive, amusing, and thought-provoking.”
It’s exciting to see opera go against the grain and attract new audiences who would have previously dismissed the genre.
Composed by Luke Di Somma and set to a libretto by Livi Reihana and Amanda Kennedy of The Fan Brigade, “The Unruly Tourists” was commissioned by the New Zealand Opera.
Thomas de Mallet Burgess, General Director of the New Zealand Opera, is in charge of directing.
