Belgian stage director Ivo van Hove poses before a dress rehearsal of the opera "Brokeback Mountain" at the Teatro Real in Madrid, January 24, 2014. When Annie Proulx first published Brokeback Mountain in the New Yorker in 1997, the American writer said she did not suspect the tragic cowboy love story would go on to inspire an Oscar-winning film and even an opera. The doomed romance between two Wyoming sheep herders caught the eye of American composer Charles Wuorinen for its potential as an opera, now set for its global debut in Madrid on Tuesday. Belgian stage director Ivo van Hove projects real images of the mountain on an all-white stage that reflects the cold, harsh conditions of Brokeback that gave rise to the gay romance. Picture taken January 24, 2014. REUTERS/Paul Hanna (SPAIN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)