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New York Times

Famous for Basketball and Now the Setting for an Opera

Good morning. It's Thursday. Today we'll find out about an opera that will be performed on a storied basketball court in Harlem. And, with the forecast calling for temperatures in the mid-90s on Tuesday, we'll get details on early voting for Primary Day. It won't be that hot tomorrow or over the weekend. Holcombe Rucker Park is famous for basketball. It's where stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving once put their reputations on the line, playing street legends. It's where Jay-Z and Fat Joe put together teams for a game that was never played. (It had been scheduled for the night of the blackout in 2003.) Rucker, as it is known, has been the setting for films and documentaries, including one that won a Sports Emmy Award. Now Rucker, wedged between the Harlem River Drive and Frederick Douglass Boulevard at West 155th Street, is about to become the setting for something different — an opera. But the work that will be performed on Saturday and again on June 28 seems to belong there. It's about basketball, and the performers play as well as sing. 'We actually play basketball 12 times' in the opera, said Grethe Barrett Holby, who had the idea that led to 'Bounce: The Basketball Opera' more than 20 years ago and who is the creative director of the production. 'A lot of the actual drama happens in the games. I know enough that I'm not going to stage the games, but I make sure we can see what is going on between the characters.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.