OperaCocktail Sails the Med on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth

On the back of our 2023 UK premiere of OperaCocktail in Mansfield last month, OperaUpClose were thrilled to board the Queen Elizabeth last week and sail the Med. As part of the Cunard Showcases programme, we brought OperaCocktail to the heart of the ship, performing up-close in the Garden Lounge and  running a series of workshops giving passengers a chance to find their own operatic storytelling sound and become part of our chorus.  

For those not in the know, OperaCocktail is a musical picnic for the stage made up of popular classics shaken with wit, stirred with drama, and served with a twist of ménage à trois. Newly arranged for piano and cello, OperaCocktail includes music by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti and more in sparkling, contemporary English translations.

When we weren’t busy rehearsing, performing and delivering workshops, we did, of course, find time to soak up some of the magical atmosphere on board.

The Queen Elizabeth is a beautiful ship designed in the art deco style that holds up to 2,081 guests, 911 crew and is over 950 foot in length.  On this voyage we stopped at Nice, Livorno, Ibiza, Valencia, Barcelona and Naples meeting many wonderful new friends on the way. 

It truly was a pleasure to be part of the Cunard Showcase Programme and even better to receive such positive real-time feedback from everyone on board.The audience loved the storytelling, the music, the interaction and accessibility of OperaCocktail – and we loved performing it to and with them!

The team here at OperaUpClose would like to give a big shout out to all the brilliant performers and wonderful production team on the Queen Elizabeth. Thank you. What an experience!