Giving Mozart a Makeover

Diagnosed with acute melancholia and a guilt complex, detective John Ferguson, in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo, is advised by his girlfriend to turn to the restorative power of music. "Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus," says Madge. "I had a long talk with a lady in musical therapy, Johnnie, and she says Mozart is the boy for you. A broom that sweeps the cobwebs away." In its 50th year, Opera Australia is hoping Mozart will be the boy for it. While its prognosis is better than Johnnie's, the country's flagship company has been gathering a few cobwebs lately. Since the hasty departure of music...