Talk about timely: As Opera Theatre of St. Louis winds down its 2009 season, the setting of the fourth opera in this year’s repertoire - John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles - is about to reopen.

Built in 1770 in the palace at Versailles for the wedding of the future Louis XVI and his queen-to-be, Marie Antoinette, the 652-seat jewel-box theater has been closed for the last two years for renovation and an upgrade of the electrical system. OTSL’s artistic director, Jim Robinson, made use of that fact in his staging of Ghosts; the production opens with “restorers” in hard hats and blue jumpsuits working to the blare of a boombox.

The grand re-opening is scheduled for September 21, with assorted concerts and plays to be held during the year. AFP’s story is here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jcCGoS3vYoMnGBtFf5PO8ZNncTDQ

The production will be seen at the Wexford Festival in Ireland in October, and in Vancouver next year.