A new opera about Las Vegas’s famous magic duo, Siegfried & Roy, has its world premiere at the Sydney Festival. Deborah Jones talks to its creators Constantine Costi and Luke Di Somma, as well as Kanen Breen who plays Roy, to find out what’s in store.

Kanen Breen and Christopher Tonkin in a promotional image for Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera. Photo © Jacquie Manning

In 2022, the Los Angeles branch of Bonhams auction house sold nearly 500 lots of costumes, furniture, art, jewellery, figurines, books and memorabilia that had belonged to the late Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, the Las Vegas headliners whose first names were all you needed to know. Among the items was a strikingly attenuated sculpture of...