The work was commissioned from Gefors in 2009 and permission was sought from Disney / Buena Vista who held the rights to the story.
The opera is set in Brazil and generally follows the scenario of the film faithfully although the script is of necessity much reduced.
[3] The music is characterized by "moments of lushness […], ear-catching polytonalities and extraordinary susurrating tonal clusters for the chorus",[4] along with rhythms and suggestions of the samba woven into Gluckist memories which reflect the partly South American setting.
[3] Among the musical highlights has been noted an aria for Alicia at the end of Act III in which she expresses her doubts about the intrigue before accepting the plan; another for the heroine where she vents her rage "worthy of Isolde" and a scene at a performance of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the opera house in Rio de Janeiro where Devlin and Alicia sing a duet with chorus.
Set during the Second World War,[4] Alicia Hauser, a free-living daughter of a Nazi, is engaged by American Secret Services to infiltrate a group of émigré German scientists in Brazil who are working on creating a powerful and destructive weapon.