“Brokeback Mountain” on Stage

After the cinematic success based on the short story by Annie Proulx that won 3 Academy Awards, why not head for the stage? Just as “Brokeback Mountain” was an unconventional love story, so too shall be its reincarnation as a live performance: as an opera.

The New York City Opera has commissioned Charles Wourinen to compose the opera based on the relationship of two now infamous cowboys.

This is not Wourinen’s first short story adaptation. The 70 year-old composer composed Salman Rushdie’s ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ in 2004.

Commenting on the project Wourinen exclaims, “ever since encountering Annie Proulx’s extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it.” Fortunately for Wourinen and opera lovers alike, he will have his chance.

The Brokeback opera is scheduled to premier in spring of 2013.

JC