The Golden Ticket Reviews

The Golden Ticket received its World Premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis on June 13th, and the audience and critical reaction has been absolutely overwhelming!

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Commissioned by American Lyric Theater and Felicity Dahl, The Golden Ticket Receives it’s European premiere on October 17th at Wexford Festival Opera. Congratulations to all at OTSL who have given ALT’s first commission such a wonderful launch. Here is a small taste from the reviews so far…

“Author Roald Dahl wrote many memorable creations, but “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” stands out in particular for its inventiveness, sly wit and marvelous cast of characters. “The Golden Ticket,” by composer Peter Ash and librettist Donald Sturrock, does Willy Wonka & Co. justice - and so does the world premiere production… There aren’t that many new operas designed to make the audience laugh out loud. “Ticket”... does just that - and with honest, sweet humor - combining ingenious music that neatly parodies assorted operatic cliches and a clever libretto that has fun with Dahl’s delicious morality play. Add to that a nearly ideal cast, and you have something enjoyable for adults and children alike.” - St. Louis Post Dispatch

“...a fanciful tale meets theater of the absurd meets opera. Sturrock’s libretto bubbles along with fun rhyming couplets, and the music is surprisingly sophisticated.” - Dallas Morning News

“...this charming rendition of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is bound to become a success…The team of lyricist and librettist Donald Sturrock and composer Peter Ash has provided a delightful score that complements the now-familiar story quite well. The production also benefits from the snappy stage direction by James Robinson and the work of conductor Timothy Redmond, who leads members of the St. Louis Symphony in fine fashion. The cast is also first-rate, led by opera star Daniel Okulitch… who captures the mix of playfulness and wickedness which is the keynote of Willy Wonka.” - Theatermania

“The opera’s best music is edgy and snappy, its astringent orchestration giving prominence to the winds and the brass, capturing the story’s restless unpredictability… Ash and Sturrock are particularly successful in Act I, establishing the impoverished Charlie’s grim life…and the wonderfully disagreeable characteristics of the four other children who, like Charlie, win visits to the candy factory of the mysterious Willy Wonka. Only Charlie is sung by a child (the gifted boy soprano Michael Kepler Meo); the other children, sung by adults, cleverly reference operatic stereotypes. There’s pushy, gum-chewing Violet Beauregard (Tracy Dahl executed the manic bel canto coloratura with élan); the violence-obsessed TV addict Mike Teavee (given a stuttering Handelian quality by countertenor David Trudgen); the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Andrew Drost, with hilarious preening tenor mannerisms) and the monstrously spoiled rich girl-diva Veruca Salt (Jennifer Rivera). High points include intricate ensemble writing for the children and their parents, as well as a bright, syncopated chorus by a bevy of female squirrels in elegant Turkish costumes who test nuts with little hammers, deem Veruca a “bad nut,” and toss her down the rubbish chute. Timothy Redmond was the skillful conductor…Martin Pakledinaz outdid himself on the children’s costumes…” - The Wall Street Journal


“... Ash, an Iowa native also active as a conductor, has produced a real opera with an upbeat, melodically appealing, contemporary score, yet it doesn’t play down to its audience…Ash’s musical allusions to other operas are clever while not overly obvious. When a foodstuff called called Turkish Delight turns up, I detected a hint not just of Turkish music but of Mozart’s Turkish music. At an emotionally fraught moment, Augustus Gloop (stentorianly sung by tenor Andrew Drost) adopts Puccini-like mannerisms…In addition, the music takes on an appealing note of sentiment when, after Wonka names Charlie as his business successor, Ash develops a tune that includes a two-note figure to which the name “Charlie” is often sung. Boy soprano Michael Kepler Meo sings Charlie with due innocence, and bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch is imposing as the authoritative Wonka. Others in the uniformly strong cast include Tracy Dahl, whose coloratura soprano proves ideal for Violet’s outbursts, Jennifer Rivera, in lustrous voice as the spoiled teenager Veruca Salt, David Kravitz, as her indulgent father, and Frank Kelly, as Charlie’s Grandpa Joe. Timothy Redmond conducts with a verve that matches James Robinson’s energetic staging, with Martin Pakledinaz’s colourfully inventive costumes nicely complementing Schwengl’s sets.” - The Classical Review

“There are easier things than launching a new comic family friendly opera, like. . . rocket science, perhaps. But OTSL scored another major success with its world premiere of composer Peter Ash’s and librettist Donald Sturrock’s “The Golden Ticket”...Both composer and librettist displayed considerable wit and imagination, and Mr. Ash made the orchestra a willing accomplice with characterful inventions…All in all, aurally and dramatically the piece is accessible, interesting, and highly entertaining. Much of the musical success must lie with conductor Timothy Redmond, who led the reduced orchestra…with great conviction, rhythmic precision, and rhapsodic sweep…A large part of the actors’ total success in creating these iconic characters has to be credited to the dazzling costumes by Martin Pakledinaz…Bruno Schwengl’s amazingly mobile and versatile scenery was also first-rate and did not miss a trick in supporting the requisite special effects…” - Opera Today


“...an appropriately tasty concoction of juvenile humor, adult wit, and musical invention with just the right amount of creepiness. Composer Peter Ash has an impressive conducting resume, so it’s perhaps not surprising that his work makes ingenious and clever use of the orchestra. Delicate ensemble passages alternate with great whoops and rushes of sound and unexpected instrumental combinations abound. The score is peppered with musical jokes, including characteristic music for the four badly behaved children who come to grief in Willy Wonka’s factory. The egomaniacal Violet Beauregard, for example, sings in florid coloratura flourishes while the piggish Augustus Gloop parodies the stereotypical portly Italian tenor by spewing saccharine mock Puccini. Meanwhile Mike Teavee, who is obsessed with violent television, stutters machine-gun staccato passages. As the Artistic Director of the Roald Dahl Foundation, librettist Donald Sturrock brings an insider’s perspective to the words that accompany Mr. Ash’s music. Fans of the book will likely be delighted to discover that the stage adaptation includes not only the major elements of the published version of the original novel, but bits and pieces of Dahl’s numerous revisions as well… It’s literate enough to keep adults engaged but chockablock with sufficient jokes to hold the attention of all but the youngest children-no small accomplishment.” - KDHX / StageLeft

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