Bliss, The Arts Centre, Melbourne

Merlyn Quaife takes the lead in ‘Bliss’

In the decade since Opera Australia initially announced its commission, the pressure has mounted on Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Brett Dean to write the Great Australian Opera – or at the very least, a local contribution to the form that would resonate well beyond its national shores.

Fortunately, Bliss has a history of making good first impressions. Peter Carey’s 1981 debut novel inspired director Ray Lawrence’s 1985 debut prize-winning film; now it has inspired Dean’s first opera, which, after completing its run in Sydney and Melbourne, moves on to this summer’s Edinburgh Festival and a new production at the Hamburg State Opera. Carey’s surrealistic fable of a successful advertising man whose near-death experience opens his eyes to the hypocrisy around him is perhaps not the most operatic of sources, but Dean and his collaborators have made the results nearly seamless for the musical stage.