William Bolcom’s opera, “A View from the Bridge” debuted inn 1999 in Chicago was described as “Brooklyn verismo,” something that was emotive enough to bring to mind Puccini. (We are talking out of our asses here more than usual as opera is not something about which know much. Ask us about Arcade Fire.)( In any case, NPR knows and they write:

Bolcom’s distinctively American opera is set among immigrants in New York, and its story easily lives up to Puccini’s description of his own dramatic style, as one that puts “great sorrows in little souls.” The little souls of A View from the Bridge are struggling dock workers and their families, some of whom are in the country illegally. The opera is based on a 1955 play by Arthur Miller, which appeared first as a one-act drama in verse, and then as a full-length, two-act show on Broadway. Miller worked on the opera’s libretto alongside Bolcom’s longtime collaborator, Arnold Weinstein, and they relied on both versions of the play in creating the opera’s text.

The opera’s vibrant setting is the Italian-American neighborhood of Red Hook, in Brooklyn, back in the 1950s. But the issues underlying the story seem both ancient and cut from modern headlines — ranging from the travails of illegal immigrants to ethnic stereotypes to biases surrounding sexual orientation and even the hint of incest.

It’s being performed by the Washington Opera in, well, DC, but sounded like it was worth mentioning. Also there are audio clips, the story coming from NPR, of course.