Review Roundup: ANNA NICOLE: THE OPERA

ANNA NICOLE tells the story of Anna Nicole Smith, a small-town Texas waitress (and later, exotic dancer) in pursuit of the American Dream. Smith wed an octogenarian billionaire and became a Playboy model and tabloid celebrity, living a life of excess and substance abuse under the constant glare of the media until her death at the age of 39. This dynamic production mixes comedy and tragedy and boldly confronts issues of modern celebrity, greed, and exploitation.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Richard Sasanow, BroadwayWorld: There's no doubt for a moment about who the star of this show is--because soprano Miller never leaves the stage from start to finish and keeps our attention, even when she's not wearing the fake breasts to emulate the "after" side of Anna Nicole Smith's cosmetic surgery.

James Jorden, New York Post: Musically and dramatically, this Anna Nicole is just too nice. What's missing is the passive-aggressive monster diva we knew from her reality show.Soprano Sarah Joy Miller simply isn't trashy enough. Petite and pretty - she's a ringer for Jane Krakowski - she seems too smart and classy to make a believable Anna Nicole.

Anthony Tommasini, New York Times: The three creators, all British, certainly had fun depicting Smith's tawdry American life and skewering reality television. But their Anna emerged as an improbable operatic heroine; a restless woman yearning to escape her backwater birthplace, Mexia, Tex.; a striver determined to get ahead and raise a son in any way possible. Isn't this the American dream?

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "Anna Nicole" is a seedy Cinderella story that begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with a body bag. Between those points, we see the doomed Playboy Playmate's crummy Texas upbringing; game-changing pumpkin-size breast implants, and a fairy godfather, in the guise of 89-year-old billionaire tycoon J. Howard Marshall II (a fine Robert Brubaker).

David Finkle, Huffington Post: The brutal truth is that you will be bored by Turnage's music--and quickly. As conducted by Steven Sloane but hardly his problem, the score just plods along in an ominously nervous and throbbing way. Nowhere in it are opportunities seized to break into anything remotely dramatic. It's as if Turnage has listened to too much Gian-Carlo Menotti and other composers going after 20th- and 21st-century angst and then drained what he'd heard of pith.

Justin Davidson, Vulture: The result is a score that is loud and busy but also jerky and uncertain. Many scenes drag on - the consultation with the plastic surgeon seems to play out in real time, complete with waiting-room prelude - but even so, musical ideas never get the chance to jell.

Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times: Granted, a partisan audience laughed at Richard Jones's clever staging and clapped on cue. The singing-acting-dancing-smirking ensemble exhibited tireless valour. Miriam Buether's sets and Nicky Gillibrand's costumes exuded witty glitz. Still, the package suggested much snazzy ado about not much at all.

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Mostly, however, it's the central character herself, sung with sassy appeal and slow-release vulnerability by the soprano Sarah Joy Miller, onstage virtually throughout in a role requiring a rollercoaster emotional range. The opera doesn't whitewash the lurid nature of Anna Nicole's story. Neither does it ridicule the pathetic aspects of the protagonist's life, instead homing in on the pathos without resorting to cheap sentimentality.

Kyle Anderson, Entertainment Weekly: Luckily, Anna Nicole is held aloft by Sarah Joy Miller's performance in the title role. Hers is no easy task, as the part itself forces Miller not only to sing in a twangy Texas accent but also to wear a pair of ludicrously large prosthetic breasts. Through it all, Miller's lovely soprano never wavers, and she imbues Smith with a tactile sense of pathos while still driving home the fact that she was a dangerous combination of limited means and uncapped ambition. Miller manages to find the balance in Smith that the material itself fails to grasp.

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