Director Robert Altman is moving ahead with plans for the world premiere of an opera based on his 1978 movie “A Wedding,” tentatively scheduled for 2004 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
William Bolcom, composer of “McTeague,” which Altman staged for its 1992 premiere at Lyric, is working on the score.
The opera is scheduled as a major component of Lyric’s 2004-’05 50th anniversary season.
The movie of “A Wedding,” filmed on location in the northern suburbs of Chicago, concerned the interweaving intrigues and crises of a large wedding party that embraced various members of two families, one nouveau riche and the other old money, with possible Mafia connections.
The film had a cast of about 50 actors, including Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, Desi Arnaz Jr., Mia Farrow, Geraldine Chaplin, Vittorio Gassman, Dina Merrill, Lauren Hutton and Dennis Franz. For the opera, Altman says, “We’re adding a few and subtracting a few” of the characters.
