NEW YORK (AP) — Miles Mykkanen grew up wanting to sing and dance on Broadway, but he was turned down by the musical theater programs he applied to for college. So he had to “settle” for studying opera at the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center.

“At 18, when your sights are set on 42nd Street and then you’re getting called to 65th Street, it was weirdly a letdown,” he recalled. “But after a few hours I kind of slapped myself and said ‘Miles, pull yourself together.’”

That was 16 years ago, and he has since pulled himself together to such an extent that at age 34 he’s just opened the Metropolitan Opera season in a leading role in a new opera, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.”

With a libretto by Gene Scheer and score by Mason Bates, the opera is based on the novel by Michael Chab

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