Premieres nationwide Friday, February 1 at 9:00 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Season 13 of Great Performances at the Met continues with a primetime broadcast of Marnie, premiering Friday, February 1 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Nico Muhly’s new opera, based on the 1961 Winston Graham thriller that inspired the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name, stars Isabel Leonard in the title role alongside Christopher Maltman as Mark Rutland. Janis Kelly, Denyce Graves, and Iestyn Davies round out the cast. Robert Spano conducts.
Michael Mayer’s production, which had its U.S. debut at the Met in fall 2018, takes place in England, where the alluring Marnie pursues a life of crime and dishonesty by assuming new identities after stealing from her employers. After pulling off another heist and adapting a new look successfully, she moves on to a new job at Halcyon Printing where her new boss is widower Mark Rutland. Marnie makes an attempt to steal from the company’s safe but is caught red-handed by Mark, who blackmails her into marrying him by threatening to turn her in to the police. Now forced into a loveless marriage, Marnie must face the traumas of her childhood and past indiscretions to free herself from a vicious cycle of deception. Anthony Roth Costanzo hosts.
Marnie closes out a month long set of classical music programming from Great Performances and Great Performances at the Met, including The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Gala (January 11), Orphée et Eurydice from Lyric Opera of Chicago (January 18), Aida (January 20), and Doubt from Minnesota Opera (January 25).
Notable Talent:
Isabel Leonard – Marnie
Christopher Maltman – Mark Rutland
Janis Kelly – Mrs. Rutland
Denyce Graves – Marnie’s Mother
Iestyn Davies – Terry Rutland
Anthony Roth Costanzo – Host
Run time: 2.5 hours
Production Credits:
Michael Mayer – Production
Julian Crouch and 59 Productions – Set and Projection Designers
Arianne Phillips – Costume Designer
Kevin Adams – Lighting Designer
Lynne Page – Choreographer
For the Met, Habib Azar directs the telecast. David Frost is Music Producer. Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.
Underwriters:
Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®. Major funding for the Met Opera presentation is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. This Great Performances presentation is funded by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus and public television viewers.
