Brokeback Mountain gets U.S. debut a decade late at NYCO

Tom Randle, Daniel Okulitch and Glenn Seven Allen (L to R)

Charles Wuorinen's operatic adaptation of Brokeback Mountain is finally getting its U.S. premiere ten years after it was commissioned by Gerard Mortier while he was heading the New York City Opera. The company has since gone through some major changes before emerging as a radically different company.

The production will be New York City Opera’s second production in their LGBT Pride series, which kicked off with the New York premiere of Eötvös’s Angels in America in June 2017. Performances will be on May 31 and June 2, 3 and 4 at the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center and tickets are available online.

Barihunk Daniel Okulitch will return as Ennis Del Mar, the role he created a decade ago, and hunkentenor Glenn Seven Allen will take on the role of his love interest Jack Twist.

After Mortier left New York City Opera, Brokeback Mountain went on to have its premiere at Madrid’s Teatro Real in 2014 with Daniel Okulitch as Ennis Del Mar and tenor Tom Randle as Jack Twist. The opera was inspired by the 2005 film directed by Ang Lee and came to life after American composer Charles Wuorinen approached Annie Proulx to adapt  her story into the libretto for Brokeback Mountain. The book most notably was adapted into a 2005 Academy Award-nominated movie with Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist.

The work has been highly successful in Europe, where it's been seen in Aachen and Salzburg, in addition to Madrid.