Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s The Many Deaths of Laila Starr has had critics and fans alike singing its praises. And now, the Minnesota Opera will be singing about the BOOM! Studios book, albeit in a different way: by turning it into an opera.
“It’s an honor to have one of the most acclaimed graphic novels that BOOM! Studios has ever published, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, make history by becoming the first graphic novel to be adapted as an opera,” said Stephen Christy, President of Development for BOOM! Studios, via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “I’m thankful to our collaborators at the Minnesota Opera Company and our fearless creative team of Kamala Sankaram and Minita Gandhi for their groundbreaking vision in adapting Ram V and Filip Andrade’s meditation on life and death to the stage.”
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr will be adapted by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Minita Gandhi as part of the Minnesota Opera company’s New Works initiative. It will receive a piano workshop in November, which involves individual musical coaching and ensemble rehearsals, so the team can receive feedback on the piece. Short version, don’t buy your tickets to Minnesota yet, as an actual production is still a ways away.
If you missed the Eisner-award-nominated comic, it follows Laila Starr “an avatar of Death, who is cast down to Earth after humanity discovers immortality. As she intersects with the life of Darius, the boy responsible for this discovery, Laila experiences multiple deaths and resurrections, gaining new perspectives on mortality and the meaning of existence.”
Generally hailed as one of, if not the best comic of 2021, Ram V and Filipe Andrade have recently reteamed for BOOM! Studios Rare Flavours. We’ll see if that gets adapted into an opera, as well. Or a cooking show. Though hopefully not, because it’s about a demon who eats people.
BOOM! is touting that this is “the first ever operatic adaptation of a comic book or graphic novel, and the full production is slated to premiere at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts at a date to be announced.”
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