I filmed this brief interview with a subset of the Miseries a few days ago on the back steps of the opera house, with the help of assistant director Allegra Libonati. The Miseries represent, well, the misery in the world – the pain, the torture, the anguish – as the victims of the famine and devastation caused by Simon’s disappearance from the world. They appear to Miranda when she is the last of her family to be left on Earth, after Nicholas and Miranda have joined Simon in the world of light.
Working with the Miseries has been challenging because not only are they a massive group of people, but in every stage of rehearsals, the Miseries have been an entirely different group of supernumeraries (as choreographer Karole Armitage previously discussed in her interview). These particular Miseries, consisting primarily of students from the Academie de Danse Princess Grace in Monaco, are a much younger group than those from Boston, but are doing a great job of looking “really, really, really, really, really miserable”!
I had originally planned to shoot this interview with just a small group of Miseries, but more and more just kept coming – just goes to show how enthusiastic they are about the show!
Opera of the Future 
One thing I’m hoping to see here is an interview with the singing robots. How could that be done? I don’t know–you tell me.