Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie & Terrence McNally, English National Opera; The Coliseum, London WC2, until 18 November 2025, 5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: Clare Colvin.

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan.

Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie & Terrence McNally, English National Opera; The Coliseum, London WC2, until 18 November 2025,

5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: Clare Colvin.

“Heggie’s giant among contemporary operas returns to the Coliseum in full version.”

It is 25 years since the American composer Jake Heggie’s first full opera Dead Man Walking was premiered at San Francisco Opera to huge acclaim and some controversy.  Since then it has been staged more than 80 times around the world.  English National Opera marks the 25th anniversary of this giant among contemporary operas in Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon’s first fully staged professional production in London. 

Based on the memoir of a Louisiana nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who was spiritual advisor to a convicted murderer on death row, we witness in a prologue a girl and a boy who are making out in a car being violently assaulted and murdered by two men, one of whom is caught, brought to trial and condemned to death.   The trouble is that the murderer won’t admit his guilt, and to be executed while claiming to be innocent makes nonsense of the state government’s declared intention to provide closure for the bereaved parents of the young victims.        

In a strongly cast production, ENO stars return to the Coliseum, among them outstanding mezzo Christine Rice MBE as Sister Helen, battling in her impossible task to balance all the parties’ demands.   Dame Sarah Connolly plays the murderer’s emotionally driven mother, for whom Joseph de Rocher is her forever little boy.  Texan baritone Michael Mayes, who made an explosive international debut as Joseph De Rocher in Teatro Real’s 2018 Madrid production of Dead Man Walking is sensational in his portrayal of the breaking down of a man to fulfil the needs of the justice system.  The trembling of his limbs as he is propelled slowly but inevitably by two guards towards the glass box and its lethal sunbed is almost unbearably tense.    

The exciting young conductor Kerem Hasan, recipient of the 2017 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Award, conducts ENO’s Orchestra, in a finely paced performance of Heggie’s score.   Set designer Alex Eales provides a clean and adaptable space that moves from the initial shock of the brutal murders, through the caged prison quarters to the setting up of the execution.  After Joseph de Rocher dies, the question hovers in the air as to who will benefit from the action.   Last month, according to Wikipedia, there were 2,024 death row inmates on United States death rows, including 44 women.   It looks as if the question will continue to be asked for some time to come.

Running at the London Coliseum till 18 November in repertoire. www. eno.org

Conductor: Kerem Hasan; Director: Annilese Miskimmon; Set Designer: Alex Eales; Costume designer: Evie Gurney; Lighting Designer: D.M. Wood; Production pictures: