Adaptations include orchestral reductions (The Clever One by Carl Orff (17 Players), The Perfect American by Philip Glass), the creation of new stories within works (Maria de Buenos Aires), revised or new stories (Winterreise, The Fairy Queen, The Diary of Anne Frank), and new reduced stage versions (Macbeth by Ernest Bloch - 110 minute one act for 7 singers, Medea by Luigi Cherubini - 95 minute one act for 7 singers).
I’d like to go out of my way to praise Mitisek’s reinvention. Repurposing the original plot—with its more overt religious themes and fantastical elements—into a work of social and political commentary without changing a word is something I’ve rarely seen done so successfully in any art form, let alone opera. It is one of those rare works whose gravity only truly sets in upon reflection.