An Opera Based on the Trial of Harvey Weinstein Could Come to New York

An opera focused on the trial of Harvey Weinstein may be coming to New York City, The New York Post reports.

The opera, titled "The Trial of Harvey Weinstein: An Opera" will soon be staged by the Belfast Ensemble in Northern Ireland, and director Conor Mitchell has his sights set on bringing it to New York.

"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."

The opera is set to premiere at the Belfast International Arts Festival in October. Rehearsals are scheduled to begin in September.

Mitchell wrote the music himself and will take the libretto directly from the six women who testified against Weinstein during his 2020 New York City trial. The production won't be a typical courtroom drama, and there will be no actor in the Weinstein role.

"In a way, I don't care about him. I care about the effect of his actions on other people," Mitchell said. "The ability of music to express that. One of the main arguments of the piece is 'Where can music express what is not said here?'"

"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," he added. "This is about taking the words - fragments of the statements, without creating named characters, or representing a person on stage. It's about the text becoming music."

Read more on The New York Post.

Producer Harvey Weinstein faced trial in early 2020 after being accused of rape, sexual misconduct, and sexual abuse by over 100 woman, six of which testified against him. On February 24, 2020, the jury found Weinstein guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act in the first degree. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison on March 11, 2020.