Rufus Wainwright pretty much ate it with his first opera, Prima Donna, a drama-llama fairytale set in Paris, 1970. But the back story could have only predicted the messy outcome: Commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera, GM Gelb dumped it, citing a delayed stage debut (2014) and reservations about a French libretto for an English-speaking audience (although rumors pointed to Wainwright's primitive grasp of the French language while the manuscript was called-out as a pastiche cribbed from dead composers' greatest hits).
Rufus was upfront about it, and even announced The Met's dismissal on his website forum well before the news hit the wires. Prima Donna was eventually picked-up by the Manchester International Festival, and the opera had its premiere last summer in England, which exited to poor review after poor review, etc., etc., infinity.
So we LOL'd when reading a short interview with Italian magazine "D" from last month where the Canadian singer was asked:
What do you imagine heaven is like?
Find out what Rufus said -- after the jump!
