New Zealand Opera will premiere its original comic opera, “The Unruly Tourists,” at the 2023 Auckland Arts Festival. Performances will run from March 22-26, 2022.

The opera revisits a 2019 incident involving tourists from the UK who misbehave, leaving garbage and ill will. The episode sparked outrage and a national obsession with the tourists, keeping them on the front page for weeks.

New Zealand Opera sees potential for “The Unruly Tourists” to appeal to a broad-ranging audience with a contemporary storyline and challenge operatic tradition. The production, a fictionalized retelling of events, is a comedy dealing with issues of identity, groupthink, and the media.

New Zealand Opera’s General Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess said in a press statement, “It is an exciting time in the world of opera to be able to present a modern opera comedy that is broadly appealing, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Challenging some of the conventions and boundaries of the form and inviting in new audiences who perhaps thought opera wasn’t for them is thrilling.”

“The Unruly Tourists” is a New Zealand Opera-commissioned work composed by Luke Di Somma to a libretto written by the comedy duo Livi Reihana and Amanda Kennedy of The Fan Brigade. New Zealand Opera’s General Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess directs the show.