Friday, October 15, 2010

Lillian Alling: Vancouver Opera’s Mystery Woman


Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Only bits and pieces about the real Lillian Alling are known: She arrived at New York’s Ellis Island from Eastern Europe; she was reported to be searching for someone; she crossed the continent on foot alone. She was imprisoned for a time in B.C. for vagrancy; some said it was for her own protection. She ultimately disappeared into the north.

For Murrell and Estacio, the unanswered questions were part of the story’s attraction. “We spent a lot of time not just digging for research, but digging into our imaginations, trying to come up with a cohesive storyline that preserved her heroism and her mystery and her determination, but also in some ways solved the mystery,” says Murrell.


To read more from the Globe & Mail, click here.

0 comments: