The scene is an unhealthy-looking cornfield, dark night, no moon. Suddenly police sirens wail, the orchestra sends up shrieks-of-terror music, and automobile headlights pierce the cornstalks, blinding the audience. Police spotlights swim through the corn as two men break through and hurl themselves to the ground. The lights move away, the sirens fade, the men get to their feet, dust themselves off, and begin the harrowing story of long-suffering, downtrodden George and his simple-minded buddy Lennie. Of Mice and Men is once more on the stage, not as a play but an opera.
Set to music by Carlisle Floyd and given its...