McMaster initially asked Julian Mitchell, author of the hit play-turned-film Another Country, to write about the backstage life of an opera company.

[1] This was a dramatic situation that immediately appealed to him – "a great artist going through a crisis, brought back to composition after a long silence, and finding himself a substitute prodigal son in the process" – and he took it as his subject matter.

The production is punctuated with full arias and vocal ensembles from Aida, Rigoletto, Ernani, the Requiem, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, and Otello.

The production starred Richard Griffiths (Verdi) and Ian Charleson (Boito), with a supporting cast that included four singers from the Welsh National Opera.

The singers, from the WNO, were as follows: sopranos Elizabeth Collier and Christine Teare, mezzo-sopranos Beverley Mills and Wendy Verco, tenors John Harris and Mark Hamilton, baritones Henry Newman and Steven Page, and pianists Martin Andre and Michael Lloyd.