Anna Nicole

Operas have been successfully staged about Richard Nixon and Jerry Springer, so why not Anna Nicole Smith? Her story is a tabloid tragedy that raises larger issues about the contemporary fascination with celebrities who've accomplished nothing besides becoming famous and indulging in every sort of excess—a theme, actually, that virtually invites flamboyant operatic treatment. Smith was a buxom Texas blonde who worked her way up from strip joints to a marriage with an elderly sugar-daddy and then had to engage in prolonged legal battles over his estate. She lost her son to a drug overdose in 2006 before suddenly dying herself less than a year later. Librettist Richard Thomas (of Jerry Springer fame), composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, and director Richard Jones crafted this narrative into a splashy, trashy premiere production, seen here in 2011 at London's Royal Opera House—with one scene even re-creating the set of CNN's Larry King Show. Turnage's score isn't terribly memorable, but Antonio Pappano conducts it with confidence, and Eva-Maria Westbroek brings all her formidable vocal and physical prowess to bear in the title role. Anna Nicole is unlikely to enter the repertory, but it's worth watching at least once, and it surely leads one to wonder whether operas about Michael Jackson and Kim Kardashian might not be on the horizon. Presented in DTS 5.1 and LPCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a cast gallery. Recommended. (F. Swietek)