Philip Glass Latest Opera: Walt Disney
Seeing “Peter and the Starcatcher” on Broadway the other night (which I enjoyed more the second time), I was amused by a line about something being “more difficult than finding a melody in a Philip Glass opera.” I’m tempted to be cynical about Philip Glass in general, yet I find his latest project inviting. He’s writing an opera about Walt Disney, with a libretto by one of my favorite living fiction writers, David Mitchell. Acclaimed British baritone Christopher Purves has been cast as Disney, while soprano Janis Kelly will play the role of Disney’s studio nurse. The production will features 3D film sequences, and will premiere in Madrid in January. The work is described as an “occult mystery film opera.”
