The Shining at Opera Tampa

Who would have thought that a story by horror master Stephen King would find its way into the opera house?

It will when Straz Center’s Opera Tampa stages a two-act musical transformation of The Shining created by the Pulitzer Prize-winning team of composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell.

The narrative of the opera, which premiered at the Minnesota Opera in 2016, should be familiar given the novel’s place in the cultural zeitgeist: When Jack Torrance gets a new job, he, his wife Wendy and their son Danny move to the quiet, remote Overlook Hotel in snowy Colorado, until things aren’t so quiet anymore. For inexplicable reasons, Jack descends into madness as the story unfolds.

Oh, and if you know what’s good for you, don’t spell the word redrum backwards.

Reprisal Director: Erin Neff