Dress circle leased to opera (9)
I believe the answer is:
rigoletto
'opera' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dress circle leased to' is the wordplay.
'dress' becomes 'rig' (rig is a kind of dress).
'circle' becomes 'O' (O is a circle).
'leased' becomes 'let' (I've seen this in another clue).
'rig'+'o'+'let'+'to'='RIGOLETTO'
(Other definitions for rigoletto that I've seen before include "court favourite" , "titled man" , "Verdi's hunchback jester" , "Opera by Verdi" , "noted work" .)