Where There’s A Will: OperaUpClose to create new version of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi inspired by The White Lotus & Knives Out

Having re-worked Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea earlier this year [see composer Michael Betteridge’s article], Southampton-based OperaUpClose has announced that its next project will be a reimagined version of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will) will debut at the Mayflower Studios, Southampton in March 2026 and tour to Chichester, Cambridge, Blackpool, Plymouth and London’s artsdepot.

“When a wealthy second-home owner throws one last seasonal soirée, the evening quickly unravels. Enter Gianni Schicchi, the cunning opportunist who promises salvation but exposes the greed, entitlement and hypocrisies of the bourgeois elite instead.”

For the updated text, writer Hannah Kumari takes inspiration from popular modern day ‘whodunnits’ such as The White Lotus and Knives Out in a ‘brilliantly satirical and transformative’ take on this much-loved family farce. Composer Vahan Salorian will be reorchestrating the piece for an ensemble of ten storyteller-musicians (six opera singers, accordion, cello, clarinet and violin), and the whole will be directed by PJ Harris. Dan D’Souza plays the title role with Cerefina Penny as Lauretta, and John Malloy as Simon.

There will also be a scene-setting spoken-word poetic overture by Ri Baroche.

Full details from the OperaUpClose website.