Last Updated on June 8, 2026
The Ossified Memories of what might have been
A Star Next to the Moon is the product of nearly two decades of labour by composer Stephen McNeff. The Guildhall School of Music and Drama are continuing their run of interesting pieces by giving it its world premiere as part of the spring season.
A Star Next to the Moon is an operatic arrangement of Juan Rulfo’s award-winning novel Pedro Páramo. Páramo is a surreal blend of temporalities which follows the main character Juan Preciado’s journey to the town of Comala to meet his father. Comala, Juan discovers, is a ghost town, inhabited only by the dissatisfied memories of the residents. The residents and Juan swim through a blur of what was, is and could have been. He lies with the memory of his mother in her deathbed. It’s a short book but a slow read.
Although the story breathes music, it can’t have been an easy task to transfer into theatre. Stephen McNeff and Librettist Aoife Mannix have separated the book into two sections, Juan’s search through Comala for his Father, Pedro, and the town’s memory of Pedro’s life. An understandable direction to forge a plot from the disparate collection of fragments which form the novel. Mannix’s libretto is musical but can be a little repetitive, particularly during the first act.
McNeff’s score is a chromatic collage of features of modern musical economy and traditional delights. Challenging voice parts are set against orchestral gestures and flourishes which never miss their mark. There’s a wonderful harpsichord solo and a melody in the second half I can’t stop wanting to hear again. In fairness, I want to hear the whole thing again. Much like the novel, it seems like the sort of score you can dive into the detail of over and over.
Dominic Wheeler with the Guildhall orchestra rendered the score beautifully. Never stinting on pace and delivering gorgeous harmonies as they arose. The staging, designed by Anna Reid and directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans is set in a dust-ridden, bleak South American ghost town. Black-clothed residents shelter from the sun under parasols shadowed by the towering stack of their ossified dwellings.
Each of the soloists used a heavy, rapid vibrato which, while an impressive technique, was too luscious for the bleak realism. A flatter tone would have fit better. As always with the Guildhall performances there is a vast cast. Jacob Harrison as Pedro Páramo was a conniving, self-satisfied land owner with a fine baritone to match. Emyr Lloyd Jones as his enforcer Fulgor had a rich golden tone to his tenor voice and stood out even in ensemble moments. Holly Brown as Susana San Juan was powerful, memorable and scene-stealing. Jonah Halton as Father Renteria may have been having a bad vocal day but lacked any lustre and felt uncomfortable on the high notes. Yolisa Ngwexana had a sweet although slightly small voice as Damiana Cisneros.
The chorus had excellent timing and character and swept through the disparate choral pieces. Some of the male choristers have to switch into falsetto during scenes but this never felt forced.
If this all sounds a little bit bleak, it’s because it is. A Star Next to the Moon leaves one stuck, trodden under the gritty boot of cruel realism. The bleakness belies a depth and quality worth digging for but this is certainly not a sunshine-filled, laugh-a-minute casual delight.
A Star Next to the Moon runs until 4th March
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Silk Street,
Barbican,
London,
EC2Y 8DT
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