John Adams sets Shakespeare’s play about love and politics

By MIKE SILVERMAN
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When composer John Adams decided to base his new work on Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” he was aware that the project might evoke an unhappy chapter in opera history. A 1966 Met Opera staging of a different composer’s version turned out to be one of the company’s more notorious flops. But Adams and the San Francisco Opera’ were undeterred. Adams’ opera will kick off the company’s 100th anniversary season on Sept. 10. “Antony and Cleopatra” held special appeal for Adams because of the way Shakespeare combines the political story of the struggle for power in ancient Rome and Egypt with the passionate and often stormy relationship of two mature lovers.