Damon Albarn musical wonder.land set for MIF
A new musical based on the story of Alice in Wonderland with music by Damon Albarn has been added to the programme for this year’s Manchester International Festival.
Telling the story of 12-year-old Aly’s exploration of a virtual world, wonder.land is a co-production between MIF and the National Theatre, written by author and screenwriter Moira Buffini (Byzantium, Tamara Drewe) with music by Gorillaz and Blur frontman Albarn. Albarn’s involvement continues a long-running association with MIF – his operas Monkey: Journey to the West and Dr Dee premiered at the 2007 and 2011 festivals respectively.
The musical joins Jamie XX-scored ballet Tree of Codes and Brian Cox’s virtual reality project The Age of Starlight among the early announcements for this summer’s festival. Manchester multi-arts venue HOME has also confirmed it is working on a co-commission with MIF; details will be revealed when the full programme launches in March.
wonder.land runs from 29 Jun to 12 Jul at the Palace Theatre as part of MIF15; tickets go on sale tomorrow, Thu 22 Jan.