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Arts and Culture

‘Brokeback Mountain’ Goes Operatic

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Posted on Jun 9, 2008
Brokeback Mountain
brokebackmountain.cmcmovie.com

“Brokeback Mountain” is heading to the opera. The short story by Annie Proulx that inspired Ang Lee’s 2005 big-screen love story between cowboys Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist will be adapted for the New York City Opera by Charles Wuorinen, according to Variety, and is slated to premiere in all its operatic glory in the spring of 2013.


Variety:

New York City Opera has commissioned Charles Wuorinen to compose an opera based on Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” which was adapted into the 2005 film.

[...] “Ever since encountering Annie Proulx’s extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it,” said Wuorinen. “It gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so.”

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By jack, June 19, 2008 at 4:01 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The point none of these posts has managed to address is the form this opera will take - knowing the music of Charles Wourinen, I can only say that this will be one challenging piece for anyone who encounters it - those boys may have been gay, but they were still good ol’ boys—setting the story and characters in the abstract, atonal musical language of Mr. Wourinen, a composer so committed to his academic austerity, there’s little chance he’ll change it - this will be one surrealistic bull ride, you can bet your bottom dollar - could make for good art (remains to be seen), but will certainly bomb at the box office - fine art usually does anyway unless it’s collectible - nevertheless this one’s got a snowball’s chance - however, no doubt massive grant funding is already secured.

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By Karolee, June 13, 2008 at 5:29 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Con Yankee and Paul Easton, your bigotry is showing.  You might call it personal opinion, but most of us see it for what it is - irrational hatred and prejudice.  Without the blindness of bigotry, you would be able to appreciate the artistry of the movie.  The acting was excellent, the directing was fabulous, and the plot wasn’t in any way thin unless you can’t appreciate subtlety - or if you missed the point of the movie entirely, which apparently Con Yankee did if he could even think of it as comedy.  Con Yankee, you just go watch that grass grow if that’s all your brain can handle.

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By Conservative Yankee, June 13, 2008 at 8:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

So there is no room for personal opinion with out the attacks from the the defenders of PC.  This is like Hillary’s loss blamed on sexism.

IMHO it was a lousy movie,  The actors were unbelievable, and the plot was thin.

Come on critics is this movie up to the standards of “Boys in the Band” The series “Queer as folk” or “The Band played on?”

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By paul easton, June 12, 2008 at 11:42 pm #

i seriously question whether these brokeback (breakballs) mountain knockoffs are a good idea. the fags will love them certainly, but is it wise to blast away so visciously and crudely at the rural people who idolize cowboys? or is it simply hastening the dissolution of what polity remains to us into the squabbling hatreds of a thousand petty grouplets?

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By John Crandell, June 12, 2008 at 7:20 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Hey Conservative Yankee: take some Ex Lax; it might change your life.

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By troublesum, June 11, 2008 at 6:46 pm #

You’re so right Con Yankee; people being killed on the street because of their sexual orientation is my kind of comedy too.

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By CJ, June 10, 2008 at 8:25 pm #

What culture?

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By Conservative Yankee, June 10, 2008 at 12:10 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

This is as interesting as the remake of the Brady Bunch. Brokeback Mountain was possibly the worst movie I ever paid to see.

Bland, uninteresting, wandering, without adult plot. If I was still in Junior High School, I could have enjoyed it as comedy. If this is the best depiction of life as a gay cowboy, I’d rather see an opera about growing grass in Marin County.

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