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Millennium Blues is a chamber opera in two acts to a libretto by Simon Louvish, based on his stage play, Mad Dog Blues. The musical composition began in July 2011 and completed by March 2012.
Characters: Robert (Rabbie) Burns (tenor); Dr Andrew McKenzie/Alien Pig (bass-baritone); Narendra (soprano); Government Man (baritone); James (Jimmy) Joyce (baritone); The Supreme Being (high tenor); Spoken roles (all offstage): Recorded announcements on the Underground; Policeman's voice through loudhailer; Radio announcer; Voices of homeless people.
Simon Louvish's surrealistic story is set in an alternative universe and an alternative London, with the new millennium imminent and the country in the grip of a pandemic affecting dogs, the government having ordered the extermination of the entire canine population.
Act 1 Synopsis: [Scene 1 - Dr McKenzie's office] Rabbie Burns, a young Scottish busker living in London, is having treatment for schizophrenia and is attending his final consultation with his psychologist, Dr Andrew Mackenzie, who pronounces him cured.
[Scene 2: Underground train] Rabbie is traveling on a Piccadilly Line tube when a voice over the train's address system calls him by name. At the next stop, an alien being in the form of a humanoid pig enters and informs him of a secret weapon developed by the Americans involving a highly dangerous substance called XZB-3, which has the ability to destroy the universe, and that he has been chosen by a race of supremely powerful extraterrestrials to inform his government and that of the United States to cease development or face the complete annihilation of the planet.
[Scene 3 - Rabbie's apartment] At home in his apartment, Rabbie contacts his TV-journalist friend, Narendra, who comes over to him and together they use a computer to search for any trace of the secret weapon. Immediately there is a police raid, they are arrested and taken away.
[Scene 4 - an interrogation room] At a secret location, Rabbie is interrogated by a government agent who initially suspects him of nefarious activity but eventually realises that he is innocent. The Government Man then conscripts Rabbie and Narendra into the Secret Service to try to get to the bottom of the mystery.