"The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five" was adapted for the opera in 1997 by composer Philip Glass with story-libretto by Lessing. It was commissioned by the state of Baden-Württemberg and HeidelbergCement in Germany. The two-act opera for orchestra, chorus and soloists had its world premier in Heidelberg, Germany in May 1997 under the direction of Thomas Kalb (music) and Birgitta Trommler (stage), with libretto translated into German by Saskia M. Wesnigk. Lessing said that for the opera she expanded her allegory about gender relations: "There was room for two festivals: a woman's festival and a marriage festival. There are a lot of lyrics not in the novel." A new production of the opera, directed by Harry Silverstein with music conducted by Robert Kaminskas, premiered for the first time in English in the United States in June 2001 at the Merle Reskin Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.