Earlier this year, “The Handmaid’s Tale” became of the hottest new dramas on the small screen. Well, if you still want more compelling, Margaret Atwood inspired fare, get ready to fire up “Alias Grace.” The new series arrives very soon on Netflix, and in addition to boasting a wealth of on-screen talent, it will feature a score by composers Mychael and Jeff Danna.
Written by Sarah Polley, directed by Mary Harron, and starring Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, Anna Paquin, Paul Gross, Rebecca Liddiard, Kerr Logan, Zachary Levi, and David Cronenberg, the series follows Grace Marks, a poor, young Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who, along with stable hand James McDermott, was convicted of the brutal murders of their employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, in 1843. James was hanged while Grace was sentenced to life imprisonment. Grace became one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of 1840s Canada for her supposed role in the sensational double murder and was eventually exonerated after 30 years in jail. Her conviction was controversial and sparked much debate about whether Grace was actually involved in the murder, or merely an unwitting accessory.
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Powering “Alias Grace” is the music of Mychael and Jeff Danna, who were inspired by the period setting of the story. “We wanted the score to mirror the formal rigidity of British Colonial 19th Century society,” Mychael Danna said.
“We chose a chamber group of virtuosic musicians to lay out the complicated fabric of the musical world of ‘Alias Grace,’ ” Jeff Danna added. “There was interwoven string parts, often with one player per part in the traditional way, colored by fleeting woodwinds, piano and even the occasional church organ – all of it underlined with a dark thread of mystery and growing doom as we slowly move towards the inevitable violence of the crime.”
“Alias Grace — Original Mini-Series Soundtrack” will be released digitally on November 3rd, the same day the series hits Netflix. Listen to the exclusive debuts of