Prima Donna

The itinerant New York City Opera brings Rufus Wainwright’s first foray into opera to BAM for its U.S. debut. The work, a Sunset Boulevard–type tale about a diva (sung by the promising young soprano Melody Moore) who has fallen prematurely into obscurity, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2009, before traveling to London and Toronto. Although the piece has had a lukewarm reception, Wainwright’s keen musical and dramatic instincts, combined with his hip cachet, certainly inspire curiosity.