![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Where this opera stumbles is in Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Moravec’s score. Librettist Terry Teachout, a well-known music and theater critic, does an admirable job of adapting the story to opera, keeping the language simple and direct - the way any good noir should be. In a fit of jealousy, she guns down her lover and defiantly tries to cover up their affair. Set between the two world wars in Kuala Lumpur, in what was then British Malaya, it centers on Leslie Crosbie, wife of a well-to-do manager of a rubber plantation. It was turned into a play and, later, two movies, including a popular 1940 offering with Bette Davis. Somerset Maugham based on a much-publicized murder a little more than a decade earlier. The problem lies not with the compact, time- tested tale, derived from excellent source material - a 1924 short story by W. The only thing missing, unfortunately, is heart. The piece, which runs an economical 100 minutes with no intermission, has virtually all the essential - and expected - ingredients, including style, humor and grit. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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