The Golden Ass, by Randolph Peters and Robertson Davies, premiered in Toronto last April by the Canadian Opera Company, sets Canadian opera back at least three generations: a smartly performed and visually lavish spectacle based on a stuffy script and tepid score.
The publicity promised a work of unprecedented significance, the swan song of a "beloved" novelist, a racy tale set to music. With a budget rumored at $1,800,000, the burning question was not "Is it any good?" but "Will ...