La Fanciulla del West (or West End Girl)

Robert Chevara directs Puccini's 'Girl of the Golden West' for OperaUpClose, in a production transporting frontierswoman Minnie from an 1850 Californian goldmining town to a dilapidated, back-street Soho internet cafe, populated by East European immigrants and targetted by the Albanian underworld. Minnie, trusting and innocent, falls for gang leader 'Vik' Johnson, who is intent on stealing from the villains in her café, and from her. When the crooks catch up with Vik, he is moments from execution, before Minnie is forced to play a hand of poker for his life. Piano accompaniment by musical director John Gibbons. (Set design by Nicolai Hart Hansen; costumes Jonathan Lipman; and lighting Andrew May.)