by Brett Campbell

More than half a century before Sergio Leone, Ennio Morricone, Clint Eastwood et al brought us an Italian view of the American West's good/bad old days, New York's Metropolitan Opera asked famed Italian composer Giacomo Puccini to make a new opera from a play of the Gold Rush days.

The March 14 and 16 performances of that pioneer-period drama The Girl of the Golden West are a pioneering step for the Eugene Opera, too: Not only is this Hult Center performance the local premiere of Puccini's favorite among his operas, it also continues the plucky company's recent willingness to take chances, albeit this time not with contemporary works, alas, but with less familiar fare.

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Source: http://www.eugeneweekly.com/