By: Ellen Cans
A new opera is underway, depicting the Manhattan trial of Harvey Weinstein. The opera is currently being produced in Northern Ireland, and it may land in New York City. As reported by The NY Post, Conor Mitchell, director of the Belfast Ensemble, has written the music and is staging the opera, entitled “The Trial of Harvey Weinstein: An Opera”. Mitchell, 43, said he hopes to have the show ready by October, in time for the Belfast International Arts Festival. Rehearsals are scheduled to start in September. “There are conversations about taking it somewhere off the beaten track in New York, but it is very early days still,” Mitchell said. “I think New York City would be its natural home.”
“It’s not a representation of court case, but a piece of art that responds to [the women’s] statements. It’s not a physical recreation of events,” said Mitchell. Weinstein himself will not be portrayed by any actor. “In a way, I don’t care about him. I care about the effect of his actions on other people,” Mitchell added. The disgraced director was convicted of rape last year and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Weinstein, 69, will be extradited to Los Angeles to face a sexual assault trial.
As per the Post, Mitchell took the libretto in the music directly from testimony in Weinstein’s New York City trial. Mitchell is no newcomer to politically charged narratives. In 2019, he wrote “Abomination,” about prejudice against gays.
The idea for the Opera did not stem from Weinstein’s victims and their advocates, but so far they have not withheld their support for it. “I 100 percent would see this, because as a survivor of Harvey Weinstein — I would want to both prepare myself for more potential trauma and make a formal opinion on the production based on facts,” said Hayley Gripp, one women who accused Weinstein of trying to rape her.
A lawyer representing the victims said she would be supportive if the victims gave their permission. “If they do obtain the consent of the victims whom they plan to portray, then I am supportive of such an opera if it portrays the pain, the anguish, and the psychological harm that a victim has suffered as a result of being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein,” commented Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented three of the lady witnesses who testified in Weinstein’s criminal case
Team Weinstein, however, seemed less supportive of the Opera. “Well, they may have to produce a second act based on my client’s appeal as to whether his trial was a fair one,” said Weinstein’s attorney Imran H. Ansari.
