Elizabeth Frankenstein

Elizabeth Frankenstein is a new opera in three acts, with music by Edmund Cionek and libretto by Maryanne Bertollo. The premiere concert reading with Gerald Steichen, music director and Beth Greenberg, stage director was at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre on November 15, 2021 and sponsored by Tribeca New Music with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Elizabeth Frankenstein, a 90-minute opera, is a re-imagining of the class novel Frankenstein from the point of view of Victor’s wife. Frankenstein was written in 1817 by Mary Shelley, an early feminist. However, most renditions of her enduring work focus on Victor’s lust for creation and the chaos which ensues. Elizabeth Frankenstein allows the novel’s foremost female character to step away from Victor’s shadow into her own light.

Elizabeth is depicted as a strong-willed and unusually sensitive person; she gravitates toward Victor’s genius as a match for her own intelligence and empathy. In the first act, she becomes engaged to Victor; in the second act they are married, then she is raped and murdered by The Creature, jealous of Victor’s happiness. In the final act, Elizabeth is a ghost who appears in the Arctic where Victor has gone to hunt down and kill his creation. She confronts both The Creature and Victor though the latter, poignantly, cannot see her. Elizabeth implores them to transform their worst impulses in order to bring forth a better world.
Elizabeth Frankenstein has several facets: the romance between a brilliant man and an equally brilliant woman who loses everything but retains her courage and her innocence. Above all the opera is original, entertaining, and inspiring.

Performance requirements
Principals:
Elizabeth Frankenstein, a lyric soprano
Victor Frankenstein, a lyric tenor
The Creature, Bass-Baritone
Women’s Chorus (SSA) minimum of 6.

Performance materials:
Piano/vocal score
Chamber Orchestration for five instruments:
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Cello, and Piano

Duration:
90 minutes

Video links to Premiere Reading (live at the cell theatre)
2-minute highlight reel
https://youtu.be/Eex7AqkK24k
Act 1
https://youtu.be/cGgheRgrAXM
Act 2
https://youtu.be/4faRImN8j5A
Act 3
https://youtu.be/ez4gKq3eQBg

Maryanne Bertollo, who has a BA from Bennington College, currently lives in NYC. She has studied and worked in both the UK and India. Nineteenth-century literature has always been fascinating to her, providing inspiration for several of her works. Before taking up libretto, Maryanne published several novels under the pen name Annabelle Troy; these titles include Jane Eyre Gets Real, Hansel and Gretel in the House of Candy and The Grace of the Hunchback. She plans to teach a course entitled Vibrato Vixens at the NYU School of Professional Studies in autumn, 2025. Contact MB at  maryanne8@gmail.com,
Contact Edmund Cionek at edmandu@mindspring.com for further information about Elizabeth Frankenstein.