LIBRETTI & ADAPTATIONS
I believe that we are the stories we tell ourselves. We must be, and exemplify the change we wish to see in the world -- on our global stages and in our media. These stories have a profound, immediate, and lasting impacts on our culture and society.
With lifelong stage experience, I bring a theatrical voice to the table which is playfully vivid, inspired by the influence of technology on society, as well as the mundanely strange and the strangely mundane. I took up libretto writing since I was struck by the fact that most operatic repertoire I performed in the popular canon contained messages I didn't want to perpetuate, and characters I couldn't easily relate to, so it dawned on me that our audiences might have a hard time with this, too. I am passionate about helping to shift the operatic artform toward a more equitable, socially responsible future - and one that I feel will more readily serve and connect with audiences of today.
Current and Recent Projects: What's Up Next?
Souls Unscreened, with composer Roger A. Martinez, In-Progress
Workshop and Performance of Act 1 slated for May 30th at Brooklyn Art Haus, NYC, and June 2nd at Harmonie Hall in Philadelphia, 2024, with Experiments in Opera and Alter Ego Chamber Opera
A Pregnant Pause, with composer Garth Baxter, recently completed
Performance and Filming slated for April 7th, World Premiere April 12th, 2024, at Carroll County Arts Center, MD
Check out this Radio Interview with the WBJC:
Works In-Progress:
Breaking Blood, with composer Tori Lavan
in development as part of Really Spicy Opera Institute
One Stop Short, with composer Jane Kozhenikova,
in development as part of Really Spicy Opera Institute
Liking Myself (2023) // Music by Sarah Ann Marze (ASCAP)
"From nothing into something...I'm finally someone."
Synopsis: Eris, a social media influencer, derives her sense of self from her social media presence and her followers, who become more important to her than real-life family and friends. When she realizes her followers are disappearing, she goes to extreme lengths to keep her audience's attention.
Premiere: University of Connecticut, April 6th, 2023. Soprano: Sarah Ann Marze
Alcina REVAMPED (2021) // Music by G. F. Handel
(Adaptation and electronics concept/re-orchestration) Electronics by Roger A. Martinez and Thomas Patteson
"Ah, my heart. I've lost all goodness."
"Even Erebus does now desert me."
"What makes a soldier is more than violence: One must have courage laced with compassion."
"Calm your titties."
"Cannibal. I nearly ate my father. Would you just watch as I devour him leaf by leaf?"
Synopsis: Alcina, a magical sorceress, is Queen of a deserted island, where she lives along with her sister Morgana, and all of Alcina's ex-lovers, held captive after she transformed them into animals and plants, trapping them there so they can no longer abandon her. Angry about her constant rejection, Alcina turns to dark magic to increase her powers; at least if she cannot be loved, she will be revered. Bradamante and Ruggiero, faithfully married lesbian soldiers, arrive on the island along with their bestie, Melissa, and Alcina puts Ruggiero under her love spell. Morgana discovers her own identity and sexuality, and Melissa, having dabbled a bit in magic, reveals the secret to rescuing Ruggiero and restoring the island: that if goodness remains in Alcina's heart, not only will all of the captives on the island return to their original human forms and be set free, Alcina's own life will be spared. In the end, truth shines through the cracks, Oberto is reunited with his no-longer-leafy father, Alcina is forgiven, and all set forth to live a life of peace and happiness.
Performances: Alter Ego Chamber Opera, at the Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia, as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. September 24th and 26th, 2021. Cast: Alcina: Brenna Markey, Ruggiero: Madison Marie McIntosh, Bradamante: Kaitlyn Tierney, Oronte: William Lim, Melissa: Matthew Maisano as Balena Canto, Oberto: Andrew Egbuchiem
Rental available. Please reach out to AlizeLibrettist@gmail.com
Phony (2019) // Music by David Matthew Brown
"I hate the way that "haha" looks on a screen. It doesn't make me feel that feeling of something being funny inside. It just makes me feel sad. Like I am the only one laughing, and nobody in the room is laughing with me. And I just imagined everything."
Synopsis: A couple sits down to dinner and discovers the ways in which their gross reliance and overuse of technology has destroyed their blossoming relationship -- or never allowed it to fully form in the first place. In this micro-opera for two voices and cameo, Phony explores the ways in which technology has harmed our ability to connect, as well as sustain a deeply meaningful, and truly human relationship with the person who should feel the closest to us.
Premiere: Alter Ego Chamber Opera, September 2019, staged, with the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in the ADDICTION double-bill.
Concert Performances: House Music Philadelphia, 2019; Hub City Opera & Dance Co., 2023
Rental available. Please reach out to AlizeLibrettist@gmail.com or Composer David Brown malaguena312@gmail.com
A Pregnant Pause (2023) // Music Garth Baxter
"...A spark ignited into being, or a spirit from another place? How much life will you give me, how much life will you take?"
"What if each injustice was like a baby? Crying, fussing, keeping us up at night? Forcing our care. Then finally, we couldn’t ignore it."
Synopsis: One pregnancy test. Two potential outcomes. The opera takes place in a simple bathroom — a tub, a sink, and a mirror are the only set pieces.
We follow Serena as she waits for the results of a home pregnancy test. She is visited by two angels, both herself. One angel argues in favor of being pregnant and the other against it. Through these inner dialogues, the world inside Serena's mind is revealed: the baggage of her ancestors' trauma, her concerns about gender inequality, her own confusing upbringing, and the financial and practical challenges of raising a child in 21st-Century America, all complicating her ability to know what she truly wants.
Premiere slated for Spring 2024, TBA
Potentialite (2019) // Music by Roger A. Martinez
Synopsis: Mel, a 25-year-old physicist living alone in a high rise apartment building, is at the end of her wits, and seeks desperate measures to end her life. She encounters her doppelganger in an elevator, who draws upon her knowledge of the law of potential energy in order to save her life.
Performances: ENA Ensemble, July 2019, presented as part of Serial Opera series, #5. Cast: Mel 1: Brenna Markey; Mel 2: Katie Procell.
The Coffee Cantata (2019) // Music by J.S. Bach
(Adaptation and re-orchestration)
"We never know just who might win, since all is fair in love and coffee. It's beans between the happy couple."
About: In this modern adaptation, Alize transforms the primary character relationship entirely to that of a hip, urban couple fighting over coffee addiction and cafe expenditures, rather than a father and daughter. Linguistically, the libretto respects German vowel choices and stresses which Bach set musically, offering a playfully hilarious English-language setting which captures the spirit and nature of Bach's original work, while providing modern audiences a scenario with which they can more fully relate. The big question is: does she ditch coffee, or the man?
Performances: House Music Philadelphia, May 2019, presented as part of the ADDICTION double-bill, Alter Ego Chamber Opera, September 2019, presented as part of the OPERATIC ADDICTIONS double-bill at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Pierrot Lunaire (2015) // Music by Arnold Schönberg
(Adaptation)
About: Alize utilizes the original German text which Schönberg set, by Otto Erich Hartleben, while paying tribute to original source poetry by Albert Giraud, to create a fantastical, visceral, modern English-language performance.
Performances: Curtis Institute of Music with Duende Ensemble, with Alize as the vocalist, at the Kimmel Center Innovation Studio, December 2015, ENA Ensemble (selections), Philadelphia February 2019