The performance starts at 6:30 pm and will be simulcast both in Times Square and in Lincoln Center Plaza, with pre-show coverage, including red-carpet interviews hosted by Deborah Voigt, starting at 6pm.

Live audio broadcasts may be heard on Metropolitan Opera Radio on Siriux/XM and streamed from the Met’s Listen Live site. These broadcasts will also include pre-opera coverage beginning at 6 pm.

As always, La Casa della Cieca will be open for your real-time discussion enjoyment. For longer reactions and post-performance musings, feel free to comment on this thread.

• Anna Bolena vocal score
• Anna Bolena libretto

Anna Bolena: Anna Netrebko
Giovanna Seymour: Ekaterina Gubanova
Smeton: Tamara Mumford
Lord Riccardo Percy: Stephen Costello
Enrico VIII: Ildar Abdrazakov
Lord Rochefort: Keith Miller
Sir Hervey: Eduardo Valdes

Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: David McVicar
Set Designer: Robert Jones
Costume Designer: Jenny Tiramani
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Choreographer: Andrew George

• Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network
• Sirius
• Vocal score
• Libretto

We meet, as always, at La Cieca’s Council Chamber.

• Vocal score
• Libretto

The real-time chat, as always, is at La Casa della Cieca.

If you’re not a current Sirius subscriber, this is as good a time as any to take advantage of the free trial of the service offered on the Sirius website. (Photo: Marty Sohl / Metropolitan Opera)

That bit just now sounded a lot like “An American in Paris!”

Quiz question: Mardian is sung by Andrea Velis… but the part was written for someone else. Who?

• Sirius/XM
• RealNetworks from metopera.org

• Vocal score
• Libretto

The official chat begins at 7:45 pm for an 8:00 curtain. 

• Sirius/XM
• RealNetworks from metopera.org

• Libretto
• Vocal score

• Sirius/XM
• RealNetworks from metopera.org

Synopsis (from metopera.org):

Act I
The yard of a Russian prison camp. Early in the morning, prisoners leave their barracks to wash. An argument breaks out, and there is talk of a new prisoner, a “gentleman” named Gorianchikov. When he arrives, the commandant interrogates him and demands to know what he has been imprisoned for. When Gorianchikov replies that he is a “political prisoner,” the commandant orders him to be flogged. A prisoner plays with a captured eagle whose wing seems to be broken. The others admire its defiance in captivity. The commandant orders a group of prisoners off to work. Among those remaining is Skuratov, who begins singing snatches of a song, annoying Luka. Skuratov dementedly recalls his former life in Moscow, then suddenly breaks into a frenzied dance and collapses. Luka talks about his previous imprisonment for vagrancy. He tells how he killed an officer and was flogged for his offence. The guards drag in Gorianchikov, beaten half to death.

Act II
Some months later, prisoners are working outside the fence of the camp. Gorianchikov asks the young Alyeya about his family and offers to teach him to read and write. The boy eagerly accepts. When the day’s work is done, bells sound from the town, announcing a holiday. Townspeople arrive and a priest gives his blessing. Some men ask Skuratov why he was imprisoned, and he tells how his love for a German girl named Luyza led him to murder the man she was forced to marry. For a long time prisoners have been rehearsing two pantomimes, which they now perform: the first about Don Juan, the second about a miller’s pretty and unfaithful wife. When the show is over, bleak reality returns. A whore passes and a young prisoner goes off with her. Gorianchikov and Alyeya drink tea, which infuriates some of the other prisoners, who think it “gentlemanlike.” One of them hurls a jug at Alyeya, who falls unconscious. Guards rush in to restore order.

Act III
Alyeya lies in the prison hospital, delirious with fever and watched over by Gorianchikov. In other parts of the ward are Luka, close to death, and Skuratov, now mad and crying out for Luyza. Another prisoner named Shapkin describes how a police officer, who interrogated him after he was caught in a burglary, almost tore his ears off.

Night falls and silence returns, broken by an old prisoner lamenting that he will never see his children again. Prompted by Cherevin, Shishkov tells the story of his imprisonment: he married a girl named Akulina who allegedly had been dishonored by another man, Filka Morozov. But Filka later revealed that he had been lying about his relationship with the girl, who was in fact innocent. When Akulina confessed to Shishkov that she still loved only Filka, Shishkov killed her. By the end of the tale Luka has died. Only now does Shishkov recognize him as his old enemy, Filka. The body is carried away. A guard arrives with orders for Gorianchikov to follow him.

A few hours later, the commandant, drunk, apologizes to Gorianchikov and tells him that he is free. His chains are knocked off and, desperately, he says goodbye to Alyeya, who will stay in jail. The prisoners release the eagle, whose wing has healed, to shouts of “Freedom!” The guards order them off to work, and prison life goes back to its routine.

Special feature of tonight’s chat: a commenter chosen at random will be awarded the new Cecilia Bartoli Sacrificium CD. The selection will be made (randomly, as I said) from the total pool of comments, which means, the more often you comment, the higher your chance of being randomly selected. The usual contest-type rules apply about La Cieca’s whims being final and the possibility of substitution of a different prize if the winner lives outside North America.

Comment away, my little public!

Olga Borodina goes on tonight in Aida at the Met, subbing for an ailing Dolora Zajick. It’s on Sirius, for those of you who feel like chatting.

This is it, cher public, the big night… and you’ve found the place to be. The traditional (that word again!) yakfest during the Met’s opening night festivities will take place here at parterre.com from 6:00 pm until the curtain falls. Members of the public attending the event proper or the various HD relays are invited to text their reactions here as well.

To listen to Tosca:

• Sirius/XM
• RealNetworks from metopera.org

More resources:

• Libretto
• Vocal score
• La Tosca, drama by Victorien Sardou

Enjoy, and try to be civil!

Obviously you are going to want to chat about some of these broadcasts, so let La Cieca know in the comments which look the most gabworthy.

SEPTEMBER

21  Mon  6:30  Puccini: Tosca. (P)  Levine; Mattila, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Plishka  [Note: Radio broadcast begins at 6:00 with a 30-minute pre-show]

22  Tue  8:00  Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro. (P)  Ettinger; Bell, de Niese, Leonard, Skovhus, Relyea

23  Wed  8:00  Mozart: Die Zauberflöte.  (P)  Labadie; Phillips, Miklósa, Klink, Maltman, Pittsinger, Zeppenfeld

28  Mon  8:00  Puccini: Tosca.  Levine; Mattila, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Plishka

OCTOBER

2  Fri  8:00  Verdi: Aida.  (P)  Gatti; Urmana, Zajick, Botha, Guelfi, Scandiuzzi, Kocán

3  Sat  8:30  Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia. (P)  Benini; DiDonato, Banks, Pogossov, Del Carlo, Anastassov

5  Mon  8:00  Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro.  Ettinger; Bell, de Niese, Leonard, Skovhus, Relyea

6  Tue  8:00  Puccini: Tosca.  Levine; Mattila, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Plishka

8  Thurs  8:00  Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  Benini; DiDonato, Banks, Pogossov, Del Carlo, Anastassov

12  Mon  8:00  Verdi: Aida.  Gatti; Urmana, Zajick, Botha, Guelfi, Scandiuzzi, Kocán

13  Tue  7:30  Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (P)  Levine; Fleming, Graham, Persson, Vargas, Ketelsen, Sigmundsson

14  Wed  8:00  Puccini: Tosca.  Colaneri; Mattila, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Plishka

19  Mon  7:30  Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Levine; Fleming, Graham, Persson, Banks, Ketelsen, Sigmundsson

21  Wed  8:00  Verdi: Aida.  Gatti; Urmana, Zajick, Botha, Guelfi, Scandiuzzi, Kocán

23  Fri  8:30  Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust.  (P) Conlon; Borodina, Vargas, Abdrazakov

27  Tue  8:00  Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  Benini; DiDonato, Banks, Pogossov, Del Carlo, Anastassov

28  Wed  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  (P)  Nelsons; Guleghina, Poplavskaya, Giordani, Ramey

30  Fri  8:00  Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust.  Conlon; Borodina, Vargas, Abdrazakov

NOVEMBER

2  Mon  8:00  Verdi: Aida.  Carignani; Urmana, Zajick, Margison, Guelfi, Anastassov, Miller

3  Tue  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  Nelsons; Guleghina, Poplavskaya, Giordani, Ramey

4  Wed  8:00  Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  Benini; DiDonato, Banks, Vassallo, Del Carlo, Scandiuzzi

9  Mon  8:00  Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust.  Conlon; Borodina, Vargas, Abdrazakov

10  Tues  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  Nelsons; Lindstrom, Poplavskaya, Giordani, Ramey

12  Thurs  8:00  Janácek: From the House of the Dead.  (P)  Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White

16  Mon  8:00  Janácek: From the House of the Dead.  Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White

17  Tue  8:00  Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust.  Conlon; Borodina, Vargas, Abdrazakov

20  Fri  8:00  Puccini: Il Trittico. (P)  Ranzani; Racette, Antonenko, Lucic / Racette, Murphy, Blythe / Racette, Blythe, Pirgu, Corbelli

24  Tue  9:00  Janácek: From the House of the Dead.  Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White

25  Wed  8:00  Puccini: Il Trittico.  Ranzani; Racette, Antonenko, Lucic / Racette, Murphy, Blythe / Racette, Blythe, Pirgu, Corbelli

27  Fri  8:00  Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro.  Luisi; Dasch, Oropesa, Leonard, Tézier, Pisaroni

30  Mon  8:00  Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro.  Luisi; Dasch, Oropesa, Leonard, Tézier, Pisaroni

DECEMBER

2  Wed  8:00  Janácek: From the House of the Dead.  Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White

3  Thurs  8:00  Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann. (P)  Levine; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

10  Thurs  8:00  Strauss: Elektra. (P)  Luisi; Bullock, Voigt, Palmer, Schmidt, Nikitin

11  Fri  8:00  Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann.  Levine; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

12  Sat  12:30  Puccini: Il Trittico.  Ranzani; Racette, Licitra, Lucic / Racette, Murphy, Blythe / Racette, Blythe, Pirgu, Corbelli

14  Mon  8:00  Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel. (P)  Davis; Persson, Kirchschlager, Plowright, Langridge, Croft

15  Tue  8:00  Strauss: Elektra.  Luisi; Bullock, Voigt, Palmer, Schmidt, Nikitin

19  Sat  1:00  Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann.  Levine; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

21  Mon  11:00  Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel.  Davis; Persson, Kirchschlager, Plowright, Langridge, Croft

23  Wed  8:00  Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann.  Keenan; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

26  Sat  1:00  Strauss: Elektra.  Luisi; Bullock, Voigt, Palmer, Schmidt, Nikitin

30  Wed  8:00  Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann.  Keenan; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

31  Thurs  6:30  Bizet: Carmen. (P)  Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien

JANUARY

2  Sat  1:00  Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel.  Davis; Persson, Kirchschlager, Plowright, Langridge, Croft

6  Wed  7:30  Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Levine; Fleming, Graham, Schäfer, Cutler, Allen, Sigmundsson

7  Thur  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  Nelsons; Guleghina, Kovalevska, Webb, Tian

9  Sat  1:00  Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Levine; Fleming, Graham, Schäfer, Cutler, Allen, Sigmundsson

11  Mon  8:00  Verdi: Stiffelio.  (P)  Domingo; Marambio, Cura, Dobber, Ens

12  Tue  8:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien

16  Sat  1:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien

18  Mon  8:00  Verdi: Simon Boccanegra.  (P)  Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris

20  Wed  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  Nelsons; Guleghina, Kovalevska, Licitra, Tian

21  Thurs  8:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien

23  Sat  1:00  Barber: Vanessa (from February 1, 1958)  Mitropoulos; Steber, Elias, Resnik, Gedda, Tozzi [Archival broadcast]

25  Mon  8:00  Verdi: Simon Boccanegra.  Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris

28  Thur  8:00  Puccini: Turandot.  Salemkour; Lindstrom, Doronzio, Porretta, Tian

30  Sat  1:00  Verdi: Stiffelio.  Domingo; Marambio, Cura, Dobber, Ens

FEBRUARY

1  Mon  8:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Altinoglu; Kovalevska, Borodina, Jovanovich, Kwiecien

2  Tue  8:00  Verdi: Simon Boccanegra.  Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris

4  Thurs  8:00  Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (P)  Petrenko; Stemme, Kim, Connolly, Ryan, Schmeckenbecher

6  Sat  1:00  Verdi: Simon Boccanegra.  Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris

8  Mon  8:00  Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos.  Petrenko; Stemme, Kim, Connolly, Ryan, Schmeckenbecher

9  Tue  8:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Altinoglu; Kovalevska, Borodina, Jovanovich, Rhodes

13  Sat  1:00  Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment.  Armiliato; Damrau, Palmer, Te Kanawa, Flórez, Muraro 

16  Tue  8:00  Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment.  Armiliato; Damrau, Palmer, Te Kanawa, Flórez, Muraro 

20  Sat  1:00  Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos.  Petrenko; Stemme, Kim, Connolly, Ryan, Schmeckenbecher

22  Mon  8:00  Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment.  Armiliato; Damrau, Palmer, Te Kanawa, Flórez, Muraro

24  Wed  8:00  Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Cabell, Beczala, Finley, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka

27  Sat  1:00  Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Cabell, Beczala, Finley, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka

MARCH

1  Mon  8:00  Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  Benini; Damrau, Brownlee, Vassallo, Muraro, Ramey

2  Tues  8:00  Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Cabell, Beczala, Finley, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka

5  Fri  8:00  Shostakovich: The Nose. (P)  Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot

6  Sat  1:00  BROADCAST TBD

10  Wed  8:00  Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Swenson, Beczala, Petean, Carfizzi, Gradus, Plishka

13  Sat  1:00  Shostakovich: The Nose.  Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot

14  Sun  3:00  RECORDING: National Council Auditions

16  Tue  8:00  Thomas: Hamlet. (P)  Langrée: Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris

17  Wed  8:00  Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Swenson, Beczala, Petean, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka

18  Thurs  8:00  Shostakovich: The Nose.  Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot

20  Sat  1:00  Janácek: From the House of the Dead.  (from Fall 2009)  Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White

23  Tue  8:00  Shostakovich: The Nose.  Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot

24  Wed  8:00  Thomas: Hamlet.  Langrée: Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris

27  Sat  1:00  Thomas: Hamlet.  Langrée: Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris

29  Mon  8:00  Verdi: La Traviata. (P) Slatkin; Gheorghiu, Valenti, Hampson

30  Tue  8:00  Thomas: Hamlet.  Langrée: Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris

APRIL

3  Sat  1:00  Verdi: Aida.  Carignani; Papian, Zajick, Licitra, Guelfi, Colombara, Kocán

5  Mon  8:00  Thomas: Hamlet.  Langrée: Dessay, Larmore, Spence, Keenlyside, Morris

7  Wed  8:00  Verdi: La Traviata. Slatkin; Gheorghiu, Valenti, Hampson

10  Sat  1:00  Mozart: Die Zauberflöte.  Fischer; Kleiter, Shagimuratova, Polenzani, Gunn, Pittsinger, König

12  Mon  8:00  Rossini: Armida (P)  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

15  Thur  8:00  Mozart: Die Zauberflöte.  Nadler; Kleiter, Shagimuratova, Polenzani, Pogossov, Pittsinger, König

16  Fri  8:00  Rossini: Armida.  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

17  Sat  1:00  Verdi: La Traviata. Slatkin; Gheorghiu, Valenti, Hampson

19  Mon  8:00  Rossini: Armida.  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

23  Fri  8:00  Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer.  Ono; Voigt, Gould, Uusitalo, König

24  Sat  1:00  Puccini: Tosca.  Levine; Mattila, Kaufmann, Terfel, Del Carlo

27  Tue  8:00  Rossini: Armida.  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

28  Wed  8:00  Bizet: Carmen.  Altinoglu; Kovalevska, Gheorghiu, Kaufmann, Kwiecien

MAY

1  Sat  1:00  Rossini: Armida.  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

3  Mon  8:00  Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer.  Ono; Voigt, Gould, Uusitalo, König

5  Wed  8:00  Puccini: Tosca.  Auguin; Dessì, Giordani, Gagnidze, Plishka

8  Sat  1:00  Berg: Lulu.  Levine; Petersen, von Otter, Lehman, Schade, Pittsinger, Morris

10  Mon  8:00  Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer.  Ono; Voigt, Gould, Uusitalo, König

11  Tues  8:00  Rossini: Armida.  Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg

12  Wed  8:00  Berg: Lulu.  Levine; Petersen, von Otter, Lehman, Schade, Pittsinger, Morris

Preseason puffery has commenced for the Met’s 2009 opening night production of Tosca, to star that noted brunette Karita Mattila. A release from the company’s press office today details the various ancillary events associated with the September 21 performance, including the first “Open House” of the season (i.e., the final dress rehearsal on September 17 at 11 a.m.), HD video relays in Lincoln Center Plaza and Times Square, broadcasts on Sirius and XM satellite radio and web radio streaming via metopera.org. 

Devotees of New York City street art will be delighted to hear that the Met intends to “blanket buses and phone kiosks with images of Karita Mattila… photographed by Brigitte Lacombe” beginning August 31. 

While we’re on the subject, La Cieca is looking for one or more volunteers to serve as guest hostess or hostesses (of either gender) to preside over a live chat here at parterre.com beginning, oh, sixish on the night of the 21st, for those listening at home.

Those of you planning to tweet from the live event are asked to inform your doyenne so that she may link to and possibly aggregate your twitterings. If any among you understand what that last sentence means, do let La Cieca in on it.  Anyway, be you potential hostess or twitteress, please email La Cieca with your plans.

Now, where were we? Ah, yes, one more factoid leaps to the eye in the Met’s press release. The Squeamish (“Who are they, a sect?”) will be reassured to note that the director of the new Tosca, Luc Bondy, has no intention of updating the mise–en–scène beyond the Napoleonic era the good Lord and dear Victorien Sardou intended.

To be sure, in his sound bite James Levine alludes to “the melodramatic vitality of one of the great Hitchcock films,” which to La Cieca’s sensitive ear sounds like we’re going to be seeing contrasty, tightly-focused film noir style shafts of light. Illuminated by those shafts, though, will be Empire gowns, frock coats, puffy shirts and other sartorial comfort food.

La Cieca’s spy on the scene reports that Domingo sang the line “Tief in des Busens Berge glimmt nur noch lichtlose Glut” and exited stage left. Adrianne Pieczonka then entered from right with her line “Schläfst du, Gast?” with Lehman, already in costume and makeup, following right behind her.

Lehman and the regularly scheduled cast continue on Sirius.

The Met’s season premiere of La Cenerentola. Discuss.

Listen at 8:00 pm on Sirius or RealNetworks.

And now, the last installment of the Met’s broadcast Ring: Götterdämmerung.

Listen at noon EDT on Sirius, RealNetworks or your favorite internet radio station.

Online: the libretto and the vocal score.

Discuss.

And don’t forget to check out La Cieca’s Amazon Deal of the Day: Hans Knappertsbusch conducts Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Bayreuth 1956), prices starting as low as $38.68.

The Met broadcasts Wagner’s Siegfried this afternoon. Discuss.

Listen at noon EDT on Sirius or RealNetworks or your favorite internet radio station.

Online: the libretto and the vocal score.

And check out La Cieca’s Amazon Deal of the Day: the complete 1953 Bayreuth Ring conducted by Clemens Krauss, priced as low as $39.87!

The Met broadcasts Wagner’s Die Walküre this afternoon, featuring Iréne Theorin‘s Brünnhilde. Discuss.

Listen at noon EDT on Sirius, RealNetworks or on the Metropolitan Opera International Broadcast network. (More streaming radio stations may be found at operacast.com.)

Online you will also find the libretto and a vocal score to this music drama.

Anyone listening to “The Pizza Boy Always Delivers Twice” tonight? La Cieca has just logged on in time for Alfio’s entrance, which means Waltraud Meier has a good deal of singing coming up in the next half hour or so.

La Cieca (not pictured) invites you, cher public, to listen to the broadcast of the Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala (on Sirius or RealNetworks) and comment to your heart’s content!

The (projected) program is availabe as a pdf from the Met’s website.

La Cieca invites you to join guest host Sanford and the cher public for a friendly little webchat tonight, March 2, 2009 during the broadcast on Sirius and RealNetworks of Bellini’s La sonnambula live from the Metropolitan Opera.

Please check back at parterre.com at 7:45 PM to access the chat login screen.

I have always believed that as with La Gioconda, a great performance of Adriana Lecouvreur needs to serve up “the four greatest singers in the world”, and the Met seems to come close to doing just that. I have attended all of the performances thus far and Friday night was my third visit to this revival.

Placido Domingo‘s voice remains a steady and well produced instrument with a slight decline in volume and breadth of line and a somewhat more pronounced vibrato. What was once a silver sheen to the voice has bronzed, but by Act 4 when he allowed himself to sing out fully the sound made any of the current crop of rising tenors pale in comparison. Every note he sang was carefully measured and calibrated for maximum impact and it was a strong vocal showing, even in transposed keys.

Controversial to some, his transposition of large sections of music did not bother me. I did find it a bit cruel to make Maria Guleghina sing in an uncomfortably low register in their Act 1 scena, but my opinion is it’s better to have Domingo as Maurizio in a lower key than not to have him at all. The two of them make a very sexy couple and their was a serious passion between them. 

The role doesn’t require much acting from Domingo, and so he did not act much. At least he knows how to carry a performance based on charisma and commitment. He was definitely dignified and involved if a bit surface and stiff (perhaps criticism that could be said of many of his roles). He also received a full standing ovation (at least on Orchestra level) at his final solo curtain call.

These days Guleghina is comfortable exploring an earthy sexuality in her characterizations – Santuzza, Lady Macbeth, Norma – and unlike the last two of those roles she finds herself in comfortable ground vocally and emotionally with Adriana.  She presents a non-diva Diva – at her entrance she is the consummate artist working to perfect her craft, chummy with everyone backstage, enjoying adulation but wanting to include everyone in her glory. The new harem pants outfit with a cape was effective too. She saved the big time histrionics for the end of Acts 2 and 3, and both confrontations involved the rivals circling each other like cats in pre-revolutionary gowns – a camp fest par excellence!

I expect to be chastised for this – but I really liked her singing. The Times piece pointed out flaws that were miniscule – I only noted a couple of “hard edged” notes and certainly nothing “grainy”. True she doesn’t have the other-worldly pianissimi of Caballe, but especially at Friday’s performance she kept the voice scaled down when necessary, achieved some exciting diminuendo and crescendo effects, and “Poveri fiori” was quite hypnotic. There aren’t many “wall of sound” sopranos out there today who can almost physically make you feel the power of their voices at maximum volume, and when she let’s loose I get a thrill like no other.

Those who criticize her voice from listening to Sirius broadcasts please take note: hers is a voice that needs to “bloom” in the house – quite the opposite of what was once said about Barbra Streisand – this isn’t “a voice the microphone loves”. In the correct rep she is marvelous, and she remains an audience favorite.

Olga Borodina scores big as the Principessa. Every aspect of her dramatic mezzo is shown off to the fullest here. One or two spread high notes aside her voice remains voluptuous, and she ripped through “Acerba volutta” and her confrontations with Adriana at full steam. And she looked gorgeous and regal in the new period gowns created for her for this revival. She has a quality I used to see in Tatiana Troyanos: no matter what role she is in there is a strong sense of mystery about her that always makes her fascinating and intriguing onstage.

Roberto Frontali is an introspective and caring Michonnet with voice to spare in the part. His solos aren’t as demonstrative as those given the other principals, but he brings the same lovely quality of warmth that I saw in La Traviata and Luisa Miller to a peak here, and it makes me curious to see what he will do with Rigoletto this coming April.

I won’t be cruel about the sets since they debuted with Domingo 40 years ago, but wisely this revival has stripped and scaled down the old production using only pieces of the tattered sets supplemented by rear projections in 3 of the 4 Acts (curiously the old painted drop is used for the palace of the Prince de Bouillon and it only reminds us of how horrible it looked 14 years ago when the opera was revived for Freni). It kind of works in a college-workshop-1980′s sort of way, but Act 4 is a joke; a rear projection of abstract “violets” and 4 pieces of furniture at opposite sides of the large stage – a table and chair, a free standing fireplace, and what I guess is a bed dead center of the living room.

Direction by Mark Lamos is at once workmanlike and amateurish (why does Adriana have to put out 40 CANDLES before the Princess comes out of the back room??) but the artists avail themselves well with their understanding of the roles.

Marco Armiliato gave a nice reading of the score, comfortable tempos for the singers, and a very sensitive reading of the prelude to Act 4. Comparatively speaking this is a much more successful revival than what they did in 1994 and that is mainly due to the quartet of singers in the leading roles.

Fans of verismo might want to catch this revival before the run is over because it might be more than a decade before a comparable cast can be assembled. My new best friend is the Met Weekend Lottery (I’ve won it 3 times so far) and Adriana should be available again for $25 on Saturday, February 28. – Little Stevie

La Cieca unfortunately has been offweb since just before the announcement was made that Giuseppe Filianoti would be jumping in to tonight’s Met Lucia.  (According to the Met’s press release, incidentally, “Mr. Villazón is still scheduled to sing Edgardo on February 7 matinee.”)

Anyway, as Providence would have it, La Cieca has one of her most trusted spies in the theater tonight and so tomorrow we shall hear all about it. As she types these uneasy words, your doyenne is listening to the cabaletta of the Wolf’s Crag duet, and in the few minutes she’s heard so far, it seems obvious that Filianoti is in better form than we have heard from Villazón in the earlier two performances.