MIT Music and Theater Arts, and Guerilla Opera present the world premiere of The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Elena Ruehr’s new comedic new opera imagines that Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, the true-life unsung inventors of the first computer, use their brilliant new invention to “fight crime” in alternative universes. The libretto comes from the Pulitzer-prize winning Royce Vavrek, who adapted it from the New York Times best-selling graphic novel by Sydney Padua. Giselle Ty serves as stage director.
The show runs from Friday and Saturday, February 3 and February 4, 2022 at 7:30PM to Saturday and Sunday, February 4 and February 5, 2022 at 3:00PM in the MIT Theater Arts Building W97 Black Box Theater, which is making its own opera debut. Tickets HERE.
FLE: Tell us the creation story please.
ER: It was sometime in the spring of 2015. I was cooking dinner while listening to NPR when I heard Sydney Padua come on to talk about her new graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. So I read Sydney’s book and fell madly in love. I emailed Sydney’s agent about the idea and happily, she wrote back saying she was a big opera fan and would love to collaborate. I had wanted to work with Royce Vavrek on this and was very happy indeed that he signed on. Sydney is collaborating with us and supplying us with visual imagery.