Can Chicago’s Lyric Opera Survive Doing Opera?

“I love West Side Story. I can’t wait to see this coproduction with Houston Grand Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival, though the cast is yet to be announced. But the schedule makes a point as unmistakable as the high-wire high F tenor Lawrence Brownlee’s been hitting in Lyric’s current, very traditional production of I Puritani: in spite of years of trying to build it, the audience for opera, in comparison to the fans who’ll turn out for Broadway musicals, is paltry.”