Major props to the Fort Worth Opera. Their gay general director, Darren Woods, has routinely included very gay-friendly pieces — such as the Jake Heggie-Terrence McNally opera Dead Man Walking and the adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America — as part of the programming. This year’s festival, which begins late next month, includes the world premiere of Before Night Falls, about the life and death from AIDS of gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.
Before you see the opera — or revisit Julian Schnabel’s Oscar-nominated film of the same name with Javier Bardem — you might want to calendar a panel discussion, hosted by the FWO and KERA’s Art & Seek blog. Composer Jorge Martin, actors Wes Mason and Janice Hall, and costumer Claudia Stephens will discuss their approaches to the material at a free event at the Owen Arts Center on the SMU campus on May 12, starting at 7 p.m. and moderated by my nemesis Jerome Weeks. (Kidding.)
