ROH’s Anna Nicole Gets Set for Prime Time???

Mark-Anthony Turnage and Richard Thomas‘ Anna Nicole, the ROH opera based on the life of the late American glamour model and reputed “gold-digger”, will be broadcast on BBC 4 on Friday 25 March 2011. It’s short Covent Garden run, just six performances between 17 February and 4 March 2011, sold out well in advance of opening night. Fronted by Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role, Anna Nicole follows in the footsteps of librettist Richard Thomas‘ equally controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera which was broadcast by the BBC in January 2005. That broadcast gained the notoriety of becoming the most complained about British television programme in history, with the Beeb receiving 47,000 complaints mainly from Christian groups protesting the piece’s portrayal of Jesus.