The Girl Of The Golden West

Presented by State Opera of South Australia

The Girl of the Golden West (La Fanciulla del West)
29 August, 1, 3, 5 September 2009, 7.30pm.

Set against the backdrop of the Californian Gold Rush of 1849, Minnie the popular mistress of the 'Polka' saloon - a miners' watering hole and gambling den - falls in love with an attractive stranger Ramerrez. He is, in fact, the notorious bandit Dick Johnson who's in town with plans to rob the saloon where the miners keep their gold. Wildly jealous, as he too designs to marry Minnie, Sheriff Jack Rance is pleased to discover that the stranger is Johnson and declares that he must be caught and hanged. Late at night Minnie agrees to conceal Johnson in her hut, but is discovered by Rance who agrees to play poker for his life. If she wins Johnson can escape, if she loses Rance gets her and the bandit. Realising she's about to lose, Minnie cheats and wins the game, saving Johnson. Or has she?

The following day, as the miners ponder how Johnson could have escaped, news arrives that the bandit has been spotted. He is immediately captured and preparations are hastily made for his execution. As Johnson begs that Minnie not be told of his fate, she bursts on the scene wielding a gun and pleads for his life. Moved by her conviction and remembering her kindness to them as the mistress of the Polka saloon, the miners free the pair and they ride off together into the sunset.

Puccini's 'wild west' masterpiece had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1910 with Enrico Casuso as Dick Johnson and Emmy Destin as Minnie and was an immediate success.
This brand new Opera Conference production of The Girl of the Golden West makes its premiere in South Australia - a fitting occasion in light of this State's current mining boom.

Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Director: Nigel Jamieson
Set Designer: Michael Scott-Mitchell
Costume Designer: Zoe Atkinson
Lighting Designer: Philip Lethlean
Minnie:Jacqueline Mabardi
Dick Johnson:Bradley Daley
Jack Rance: John Wegner
Sonora: Douglas McNicol
Ashby: Richard Anderson
Nick: Adam Goodburn
Trin: Tasso Bouyessis
Sid: Lachlan Scott
Handsome: Andrew Turner
Harry: Virgilio Marino
Joe: Robbie MacFarlane
Happy: Christopher Tonkin
Larkens/Billy Jackrabbit: Robert England
Wowkle: Cherie Boogaart
Jake Wallace: Pelham Andrews
Jose Castro: Timothy Sexton
Pony Express: Andrew Linn
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
State Opera Chorus

An Opera Conference Production.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.