Cronenberg's 'Fly' to land on Paris, L.A. opera stages

PARIS -- Supertenor-conductor Placido Domingo, director David Cronenberg and Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore announced Friday they will create an opera based on the 1986 film ''The Fly.''

A co-production by Theatre du Chatelet and Domingo's Los Angeles Opera, ''The Fly'' will premiere July 1, 2008, in Paris and open L.A. Opera's 2008-09 season that Sept. 7. Domingo will conduct both runs.

The two-act opera is being drawn mainly from Cronenberg's 1986 movie of that name, which recounts the mutation of a scientist into a fly. He radically transformed a 1958 film based on a short story by George Langelaan.

The work, with a libretto by Tony winner David Henry Hwang, will feature three main roles: a lead baritone, tenor and a mezzo-soprano.

Domingo said it was Shore who came up with the idea of turning the movie into opera.

''The Fly'' is an ''intimate story'' of love, death and ''the ultimate sacrifice,'' Shore said. "I thought it was a very good opera subject for staging."

AP