Down for the Count Down for the Count

An uneven new cast can’t dim the glow of Richard Eyre‘s incisive Le nozze di Figaro at the Met

The music and the mirror The music and the mirror

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.

A crazier day A crazier day

Saturday’s performance of Le nozze di Figaro at the Met mined the humor from Mozart’s divine setting of Beaumarchais’s play about a crazy day in the Almaviva household.

Midwinter marriage Midwinter marriage

Despite having lost its announced Cherubino, conductor and Count (the latter in the midst of rehearsals), the season premiere of Le Nozze di Figaro Saturday afternoon proved to be one of the most enjoyable Met Mozart performances I’ve attended in ages.

Better than the sum of its parts Better than the sum of its parts

Is there any opera more bullet-proof than Le Nozze di Figaro?

Fleur du mal Fleur du mal

Too bad, then, that this season’s tossed flower was a bit of a wilted one.

Winter afternoon’s dream Winter afternoon’s dream

It took the better part of a decade—including two high-profile cancelations—or New York to finally hear Anna Netrebko in recital.

Wrecking ball Wrecking ball

Sir Richard Eyre’s new Manon Lescaut at the Met Friday night demonstrated no particular aptitude for opera.

Spoiled for choice

Adapting a novel, especially a well known novel like Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron, can be a herculean task. The two conflicting, almost mutually exclusive, forces at work are the desire to create a great work for the stage, while at the same time remaining true to all the nuanced characterizations and storylines present in…