The 1935 Pulitzer Prize-winning play was written as a vehicle for the husband-and-wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who lived outside of Milwaukee for most of their lives. A comedy, it tells the story of a group of entertainers and other eccentrics trapped in a resort during a fictional war, and was made into a film starring Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in 1939.

The opera will be premiered at the Florentine in either the 2007-08 or 2008-09 season.

Bolcom's three previous operas&mdashthe 1999 A View From the Bridge, based on the Arthur Miller play; the 1992 McTeague; and the 2004 A Wedding— were all premiered at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His many works also include cabaret songs, musical theater works, chamber music, choral music, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning 12 New Etudes for Piano (1988).