A new opera called The Galloping Cure, composed by Missy Mazzoli with librettist Royce Vavrek, is being developed to tackle the opioid crisis while deliberately aiming for broad, popular appeal rather than a niche opera audience. The work is commissioned by impresario John Berry's new charity, Opera Ventures, amid a wider debate about whether opera needs to modernise, adapt its storytelling and reach new audiences to survive.

The opera was inspired by Kafka's A Country Doctor, with novelist Karen Russell asked to reimagine it as a story about a fairground hawker who entices the residents of a depressed industrial town onto an exhilarating but unstoppable ride, echoing the grip of addiction. Its tone blends elements of Trainspotting, Sweeney Todd and The Rocky Horror Show, featuring vivid characters, dramatic arias, and even a flock of singing sheep and two dogs. Mazzoli and Vavrek, both decorated figures in opera (a Pulitzer prize, Grammy nominations, and an upcoming Met premiere), argue that new opera has become too self-serious and needs to reclaim its role as genuine entertainment.