Photos provided by Cory Weaver

When Chicago’s The Smashing Pumpkins released the sprawling, 28-track double album “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” in 1995, it changed the course of the whole alternative rock scene and set the bar higher than it had ever gone before, bravely combining heavy, arty, grungy, metallic, proggy, poppy and experimental elements, tied around various angles of bidding adieu to childhood through a lens of teenage angst.

Now 30 years later, it’s happening all over again within an entirely different artistic discipline, thanks to a somewhat unexpected and unflinchingly ambitious partnership between lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Billy Corgan and the Lyric Opera, whose historic home is hosting a vibrantly reimagined version of the epic on multiple dates until Sunday, November 30.

Not only is it much more intimate than the arenas and amphitheaters where the group usually plays, but it’s bringing a completely new genre, generation and truly global geographic make-up to the classically-minded institution, but after nearly two hours of communing on this unconventional yet throughly catchy cannon, the now operatic experiment worked as well as the diamond-certified original in its own unique way.

In addition to Corgan periodically lending his inimitable vocals and new arrangements personally commissioned alongside conductor James Lowe, “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” features soprano Sydney Mancasola, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Dominick Chenes and baritone Edward Parks splitting solo duties, accompanied by the grandiose Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Following an instrumental overture during the inaugural presentation, the string-saturated “Tonight, Tonight” seemed specifically tailored for the landmark environment, while “Jellybelly,” “Galapogos,” “Thirty-Three” and “Beautiful” were similarly inventive and inspiring, especially when surrounded by lush soundscapes that still retained aspects of their aggressive edge.

Having gothically glamorous costumes designed by the House Of Gilles’ Gilles Mendel and Chloé Mendel Corgan (Billy’s wife), plus a flurry of surrounding, concert-styled visual elements, carried out like a dream come to life and provided a layer of performance art to the sumptuous undertaking, which also included “Muzzle,” “Lily (My One And Only),” “Stumbleine” and “Thru The Eyes Of Ruby.”

“In The Arms Of Sleep,” “1979,” “By Starlight” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” made majestic, post-intermission impressions, followed by gloriously immersive editions of the deeper “To Forgive,” “Cupid de Locke,” “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” and a complete cast reprise of “Tonight, Tonight.”

In the end, this magnificent manifestation of “Mellon Collie” gave Corgan and company a chance to acknowledge the anniversary without having to succumb to merely a nostalgic replication, which instead brought a bold and beautiful breath of fresh air to an already ageless body of work that simply must be felt firsthand, Pumpkins devotee or otherwise.

For additional information on Billy Corgan, visit SmashingPumpkins.com.

Upcoming shows at the Lyric Opera House include Billy Corgan: “A Night Of Mellon Collie And Infinite Sadness” (Nov. 22-30); “Salome” (Jan. 25-Feb. 14); “Così fan tutte” (Feb. 1-15) and Renée Fleming: “Voice Of Nature” (Feb. 5). For additional details, visit LyricOpera.org.

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