New Opera

Hi everyone,
For any of you that are Amy Tan fans (she is the author of The Joy Luck Club), there is a review in the Times of the new opera "The Bonesetter's Daughter" of which she wrote the libretto. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/arts/music/15bone.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin
It's pretty interesting. I have to admit that when I first read that an opera was made from this great book, I was alittle disappointed. This could be just because I'm often disappointed by many of the movies made from some other good books. Often, the movie is never as good as the book, or it changes parts, or characters are not as loveable. Either way, the images projected on the screen are never as enjoyable as the ones my own imagination can conjure up. So even before I read the review, I expected that it wasn't going to be good. It just seems especially strange that it's been made into an opera. Why not just a movie? But then again, now movies are being made into Broadway musicals, in case you didn't know, "Legally Blonde" is now a full fledged stage show, and so is "The Little Mermaid".
Is there no one out there who can come up with an original story? I mean I'm all for writing "Harry Potter, the musical", anyone in?