It’s true. The cowboys are leaving the range and hitting the stage with an opera in Spain.

According to BBC News, Brokeback Mountain the Musical, the adaptation of the Oscar-winning film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, premieres in Madrid this week.

The tale of forbidden love in the Wyoming mountains was based on a short story by Anna Proulx, and has been translated into operatic fashion with the help of composer, Charles Wuorinen, who completed the opera in 2012. The pair explored the Wyoming mountains together for inspiration. Author Proulx wrote the libretto for the opera. For opera beginners, “libretto” is the text used in a musical work; it contains all the words and stage directions for the piece.

Anna Proulx has been present during the many incarnations of this piece, from its inception to its musical debut. Proulx spoke with the Huffington Post Spain along with composer Wuorinen, after one of the last rehearsals of the show in Spain. She shared, “It was never my intention to create an icon for or a celebration of what it means to be gay.” That interpretation of her story, which she recognizes as “respectable” was not her sole intention in mastering this piece.

Brokeback Mountain will be playing in rotation with “Tristan und Isolde,” another forbidden love story that dates back centuries and pre-dates Romeo and Juliet. The project seems to be the last big project by stage director Gerard Mortier, who was the director of the theater until this season. Taking over the story from Academy Award winner Ang Lee seemed to be a delicate but swift undertaking, by the director.

According to the interview between The Huffington Post Spain and Anna Proulx and Charles Wuorinen, “the story is still the same. The presentation is different in every way.” Anna, or Annie as she is referred to in the text, goes on to say, “It’s a different dimension, adding a new layer to something that does not itself change…For people who’ve read the story and seen the movie, this will bring a new layer of emotion and intensity.”

When asked if she is afraid that the audience will come to the theater with preconceived notions, she responded confidently, “Darling, that’s their problem.”

Brokeback Mountain The Opera will open this week on the stage of the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.