“Brokeback” and “Disney” Cancelled
Given all the turmoil right now at New York City Opera, it comes as no surprise to learn that the operas commissioned by the company’s incoming, but now outgoing, impresario Gerard Mortier have been scrapped. These include the opera by Charles Wuorinen based on the movie “Brokeback Mountain” and one by Philip Glass about the life of Walt Disney. Mortier said he will seek out other opera companies to produce the commissions. Good for him! If this means that City Opera thinks that the only way out of its financial morass is to put on “La Traviata” and “Carmen,” I beg to differ. They’ll never beat the revitalized Metropolitan Opera at that game. What they need to do is give operagoers something they can’t see somewhere else — even as they try to stay in business.
