The NYC Opera presents “Powder Her Face” at BAM. Here George Steel talks with Jay Scheib about this provocative work. It seems to be an exciting time in opera and only time will tell if George Steel was a visionary or madman to remove NYCO from the safety of Lincoln Center and into the desert of itinerancy. But BAM and Jay Scheib is a great combination and it seems like Steel is now able to take artistic risks that weren’t possible under previous scenarios. Given the recent boom in black-box opera and the rediscovery of the form by young, experimental composers, it seems like the time is ripe to reframe opera for the 21st Century and the race is on to see who does it best.