Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- An operatic adaptation of the 1995 film, "Dead Man Walking," with a libretto by Terrence McNally and music by Jake Heggie, is having its New York debut at City Opera after being performed at several opera companies across the nation since its 2000 premiere at the San Francisco Opera. The opera, which can be heard at Lincoln Center through Oct. 2, has been co-produced by the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Pacific, Pittsburgh Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Baltimore Opera, and Michigan Opera Theater and has been or will be presented by all these companies, though not all with the same casts. Advertisement It is an example of sharing production costs as a practical way of meeting the expense of mounting new operatic works that might otherwise go unperformed or receive a low budget production. The staging of "Dead Man Walking" is elaborate, even for City Opera, and goes far in contributing to the success of the work, which is being given a standing ovation by audiences at the end of every performance. Advertisement Dramatically, this is an opera with a lot of punch, lacking only in sympathy for the leading male character -- a murderer who is loath to confess his crime even to save his soul. Musically, the work is interesting but rarely subtle and depends on massed voices, a quartet, sextet, and choral ensemble in Act 1 for example, for its best effects. Arias are not as impressive although the appeal of the murderer's mother to a board of pardon is movingly poignant. The young composer, best known for his popular songs, is given to writing leitmotivs, musical themes associated with particular characters, such as the gospel tune associated with the nun who attempts the spiritual rehabilitation of the murderer. The tune is used to open and close the opera. Heggie's score is indebted in sound and substance to the music of Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and even George Gershwin, which is not a bad thing but indicates the composer has not yet found a completely original voice. He has a keen ear for vernacular music -- gospel, blues, jazz -- that gives his score a welcome American sound and should insure its popularity when it is performed in European opera houses. Advertisement McNally, who has written the book for six Broadway musicals, is writing at the same high, exciting level exemplified by his "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Ragtime," and "The Full Monty." His one previous opera libretto was for a dud titled "The Food of Love," so "Dead Man Walking" is giving him a second chance to shine in the operatic firmament, and shine he does. "Dead Man Walking" began its career as a 1993 book of the same title by Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun who related her work as a spiritual adviser to convicts on death row. The surprise box office success of Tim Robbins' film adaptation starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, notable for its restraint in handling sensational material, gave McNally the idea of using it for an opera that he and Heggie had contracted to write for the San Francisco Opera. The story might have been better for an opera if there was some doubt on the part of the audience about whether convict Joseph De Rocher is actually guilty of murdering two skinny-dippers who attempted to fight off his attempt at rape. But the plot established by a book and a film could not be changed, and De Rocher's deadly attack on the young man and woman is vividly depicted on stage. Advertisement John Packard is magnificent as De Rocher, a role he created for the San Francisco premiere. His robust baritone, his hunky, charismatic physical presence, and his exceptional acting talent make his characterization of a difficult, defiant man an unforgettable one. Matching his achievement is Joyce DiDonato, a mezzo soprano making an impressive City Opera debut in a transparently beautiful portrayal of Sister Helen. Other strong performances are turned in by Sheryl Woods as De Rocher's mother, Adina Aaron as Helen's confidante, Sister Rose, and Robert Orth as Owen Hart, father of the murdered girl. Director Leonard Foglia, who was director for McNally's "Master Class" on Broadway, handles his cast with a sure sense of drama, and John DeMain conducts the score with great sensitivity. Set designer Michael McGarty has contrived a complex steel structure wrapped in chain-link fences that evokes a prison while serving as a screen for scrims on which are projected various scenes, from the riverside murder site to the death chamber where De Rocher expires from lethal drugs. Brian Nason's lighting does much to create illusion, and Jess Goldstein's costumes are somber and appropriate.