The Trojan Women
Music by Sarah Taylor Ellis
Libretto by Ellen McLaughlin
Small cast version: 7 actors
Large cast version: 12+ actors
Orchestration: piano, violin, cello, bandura
(Harpsichord, harp, or another plucked string instrument can substitute for bandura if needed.)
A powerful, hour-long hybrid musical/chamber opera for a cast of diverse women. In the wake of their devastating defeat, the widowed women of Troy wait on the beach below the ravaged city to be claimed by their Greek conquerors as slaves and concubines. Though the war is over, worse may be ahead. In this new adaptation, Euripides' tragedy speaks truth about war, power, and displacement across the centuries.
Contact staylorellis@gmail.com to access videos of the 2021 Columbia University workshop or the 2019 London reading.
Development and Production History:
Libretto by Ellen McLaughlin
Small cast version: 7 actors
Large cast version: 12+ actors
Orchestration: piano, violin, cello, bandura
(Harpsichord, harp, or another plucked string instrument can substitute for bandura if needed.)
A powerful, hour-long hybrid musical/chamber opera for a cast of diverse women. In the wake of their devastating defeat, the widowed women of Troy wait on the beach below the ravaged city to be claimed by their Greek conquerors as slaves and concubines. Though the war is over, worse may be ahead. In this new adaptation, Euripides' tragedy speaks truth about war, power, and displacement across the centuries.
Contact staylorellis@gmail.com to access videos of the 2021 Columbia University workshop or the 2019 London reading.
Development and Production History:
- Workshop production, directed by Rebecca Miller Kratzer at Columbia University: October 7-10, 2021 + streaming November 11-15, 2021
- Industry reading in London, starring four-time Olivier Award winner Maria Friedman and Wigmore Hall Associate Artist Gweneth Ann Rand, directed by Adele Thomas: August 2019
- Recipient of a 2019 OPERA America Discovery Grant
- Workshop at the New York Society Library, directed by Obie Award winner Rachel Dickstein: January 2018
"Composed by Sarah Taylor Ellis, using Ellen McLaughlin’s powerful adaptation as the libretto, the music of the show sits in the nexus of
musical theatre and opera. Kratzer and Ellis were united in wanting to, in Kratzer’s words, 'let the different textures live side-by-side'
rather than fusing and homogenizing them."
"Ellis’ music feels like a marriage of Sondheim and Purcell; the density and musical complexity of opera, threaded with some
pop-adjacent musical theatre melodies. The cast included an even split between opera singers and musical theatre singers, and having both
vocal traditions represented served these dualities thrillingly."
"[Kratzer] and Ellis invite the past, present, and the might-have-been to live simultaneously on the stage and in music,
and we are invited to make meaning for ourselves."
- "Dream of a City: Rebecca Miller Kratzer's MFA Directing Thesis, 'The Trojan Women'"
"Loved the blending of the voices. The music was so fitting for the acting. I just wanted to pick up all those papers and shred them."
-Nana Ellis
musical theatre and opera. Kratzer and Ellis were united in wanting to, in Kratzer’s words, 'let the different textures live side-by-side'
rather than fusing and homogenizing them."
"Ellis’ music feels like a marriage of Sondheim and Purcell; the density and musical complexity of opera, threaded with some
pop-adjacent musical theatre melodies. The cast included an even split between opera singers and musical theatre singers, and having both
vocal traditions represented served these dualities thrillingly."
"[Kratzer] and Ellis invite the past, present, and the might-have-been to live simultaneously on the stage and in music,
and we are invited to make meaning for ourselves."
- "Dream of a City: Rebecca Miller Kratzer's MFA Directing Thesis, 'The Trojan Women'"
"Loved the blending of the voices. The music was so fitting for the acting. I just wanted to pick up all those papers and shred them."
-Nana Ellis