Metropolitan Opera Preview: La bohème

Death, romance and the rooftops of Paris in Puccini's timeless opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

He ain't got nobody: Vittorio Grigolo returns to the role of Rodolfo in La bohème.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera markets Puccini's fourth opera as "the most popular opera of all time." That may be debatable, but the show returns this year in Franco Zefirelli's elaborate and constantly rehabilitated production. As usual it is a proving ground for a young soprano as Nicole Car takes on the role of Mìmì.

Opera Review: Ghosts Busted

The Met brings back Lucia di Lammermoor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Crazy for feelin' so blue: Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti (center, covered in blood) as the bride of Lammermoor.
Photo © 2018 Richard Termine for the Metropolitan Opera. Used with permission.

Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor carries a certain sense of expectation. It is that prolific composer's most popular tragic opera, and even those who are barely familiar with the work itself have heard of its landmark Mad Scene and the image of poor, deranged Lucy Bucklaw (nee Ashton) descending a staircase on her wedding night, her white, virginal gown spattered with her husband's blood.

Opera Review: Give the People What They Want

The Met unleashes its new Tosca.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Knives for dinner: the second act of Tosca with Sonya Yoncheva and Željko Lučić (prone.)
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Tosca was the most eagerly awaited event of the current season. And on New Year's Eve, the storied New York opera company did not drop the ball.

Opera Review: The Exes Mark the Spot

Vittorio Grigolo procrastinates through Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Left behind: Stella (Anna Hartig, center) leaves Hoffmann (Vittorio Grigolo, left)
with the diabolical Lindorf (right) in the finale of Les contes d'Hoffmann.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

As a writer, it's hard not to have a soft spot for Les contes d'Hoffmann. No matter how many times this reviewer has seen it (ten), the final opera by Jacques Offenbach (English title: "The Tales of Hoffmann") never fails to move. Offenbach's opera, which was unfinished at the time of the composer's death, features the poet, composer and writer E.T.A. Hoffmann as the unwilling and unwitting protagonist of his own fantastical stories. He sits in a Munich tavern, drinking and telling tales of his past romantic affairs as he waits for his beloved Stella, an opera singer performing next door.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Les contes d'Hoffmann

Is this the real life, or is it just fantasy?
by Paul J. Pelkonen

I love you Miss Robot:  Erin Morley in a scene from Les contes d'Hoffmann.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met revives Offenbach's final opera, a phantasmagorical tale about a writer trapped in stories of his own creation. Vittorio Grigolo is the hapless hero in this tragicomic classic.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Werther

The Met brings back its handsome new Werther...without its star, Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Isabel Leonard stands strong as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther.
Well actually this photo is of the mezzo in Cosí fan tutti but we're on deadline.
Photo © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Vittorio Grigolo has big shoes to fill (Jonas Kaufmann's) as the Met revives its Richard Eyre staging of Werther, the tale of a lovestruck poet whose tragic love for the beautiful Charlotte (Isabel Leonard) leads to suicide.

Opera Review: It's Still the Same Old Story

The Met's new Roméo et Juliette is handsome but unnecessary.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Star-crossed and Bible black: Vittorio Grigolo and Diana Damrau are Roméo et Juliette.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

In Second Empire France, the libretto-writing team of Julies Barbier and Michael Carré were the go-to guys for adapting great literature for the operatic stage. They set Faust (for Charles Gounod) and Hamlet (for Ambroise Thomas) with questionable results. However, their cut-down Roméo et Juliette (with music by Gounod) remains one of their definite successes. At the Metropolitan Opera of the 21st century, Bartlett Sher serves much the same function. On Wednesday night, Peter Gelb's director of choice was once more at the helm of this new production of Romeo et Juliette, his seventh show at the Met.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Roméo et Juliette

"A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life..."
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Publicity photo of Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo as Juliette and her Roméo.
Photo by Kristian Schuller for the Metropolitan Opera.

The Met unveils a new take on Shakespeare's classic story of doomed young love, with Vittorio Grigolo and Diana Damrau singing Charles Gounod's gorgeous music. This new production by Bart Sher was first seen at Salzburg and La Scala. It arrives at the Met on New Year's Eve.

Opera Review: No New Tales To Tell

Les Contes d'Hoffmann is the Met's first revival of 2015.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

He ain't got nobody. Vittorio Grigolo (center) in Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Met.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

Les Contes d'Hoffmann ("The Tales of Hoffmann") is the final opera f Jacques Offenbach and the opera bouffe master's bid to be remembered as a creator of serious stage drama. It is a bittersweet meditation on love and literature, packed throughout with ravishing music. Based on stories by the poet/composer E.T.A. Hoffmann, the opera inserts the poet as protagonist in his own tales.  However, due to the fact that Offenbach died while working on the third act, there are many textual problems, compounded by performance traditions and the decisions of singers to add and insert arias into the work which have since become part of its fabric.