Met-A-Mora Revival

It’s hard for a soprano to get a break in Donizetti’s LA FILLE DU REGIMENT, which I caught up with at the Met on Friday evening. Not that Marie—the role of the title, sung at the Met by Erin Morley—doesn’t have some gorgeous music and shenanigans to show off her musical and comic chops in the now-classic Laurent Pelly production.

Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI was one of my first operas and remains among my favorites, despite its misogyny and the difficulty in putting together the kind of cast that can do justice to the string of show-stoppers in the score. The season's premiere of the opera had much to admire.

There’s something quietly powerful about Have You Met Stan?, a new original musical by Bart Thiede, that has just had its final show at the Brighton Fringe. Set within the everyday hum of a pub, this Irish-Polish queer love story has sincerity and charm as it delves into the meet-cute between Seán and Stan and the struggles that unfold.

Robyn Hurder and the cast of the Tony-nominated musical SMASH joined The View on Friday for a performance of the song I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn't Love To Howl. Watch the performance here!

Equally at home on screen, page, or stage, Joseph Keckler now activates The Met's Petrie Court with a brand-new, Met-commissioned performance piece. Learn more here!

Michael Mayer grew up with a fascination with ancient Egypt, and it's an interest he is putting to good use this winter. Following his acclaimed work just last year on Broadway's Swept Away, Mayer has moved uptown to bring new life to Verdi's Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. He explains in this video!

More than a decade after a serious onstage accident ended her career, veteran mezzo-soprano Wendy White has settled her lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera.

 Maryland Ensemble Theatre has announced the world premier production of Sarah Shulman’s original family dramedy, A Very Jewish Christmas. 

Get a first look at Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones' return to the Met stage. The production's remount begins performances on April 8 for seven performances. Its 2021 premiere made history as the first opera by a Black composer to be presented at the Met and won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Watch as Puccini’s glittering romance La Rodine returns to The Met, starring soprano Angel Blue as Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman in his highly anticipated company debut as Ruggero. 

Get a first look as Nadine Sierra and Benjamin Bernheim come together as the star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s sumptuous Shakespeare adaptation, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct Bartlett Sher’s towering production

Watch as Lise Davidsen sings an excerpt from Leonora’s Act II aria in an early dress rehearsal of La Forza del Destino in an all-new video.

Get a first look at Puccini’s Madama Butterfly which returns to the Met stage for 16 performances, starting January 11.

The Met’s production of NABUCCO from Elijah Moshinsky may date back to 2001 but its style hearkens back even further--a fancy, old-fashioned unit set that uses the house’s big turntable--and it’s a whale of a show, design-wise, thanks to John Napier’s scenic design.

The Metropolitan Opera somehow managed to upstage itself on Thursday, when it offered audiences a spectacular recital by Norwegian soprano Lisa Davidsen, with her excellent musical partner James Baillieu, on piano, 12 days before the company’s official opening night (the Jake Heggie-Terrence McNally DEAD MAN WALKING on the 26th). It’ll be a hard act to follow.

On July, 13, 14, and 15, Ballet Hispánico will perform a new work choreographed by Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico Eduardo Vilaro, inspired by The Met's exhibition Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic Painter. 

Following his acclaimed 2019 performances as Alberich in the Ring cycle, bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny stars as the accursed Dutchman in Wagner’s eerie drama, alongside incandescent soprano Elza van den Heever as the woman determined to redeem his soul. Get a first look at the cast in action.

Get a sneak peek at Ivo van Hove's debut at the Met Opera with his production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, featuring Peter Mattei and an exceptional cast.

​​​​​​​Ivo van Hove, the Tony Award–winning director of Broadway's A View from the Bridge, makes a major Met debut with Mozart's Don Giovanni (May 5–June 2), re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the work's dark corners.

Get a first look at Baritone Peter Mattei singing the title character’s Act II aria, “Deh vieni alla finestra,” in an early rehearsal, accompanied by assistant conductor Jonathan C. Kelly. 

What did our critic think of RENE FLEMING GREATEST MOMENTS AT THE MET at A?

Watch highlights from the Met Opera's production of Falstaff, now on stage through April 1st. Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy features a brilliant ensemble cast in Robert Carsen’s celebrated staging.

Written over 400 years ago, Cherubini’s MEDEA finally made it to the Met on the season’s opening night, in a new production by David McVicar. Was it worth the wait? If you take it for Sondra Radvanovsky’s performance in the title role, a chilling, a Herculean task, it earns an unqualified yes. She’s not afraid to rant and rave, or emit ugly sounds to show off her anger.

Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson, following a triumphant tour leading the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra last summer, makes her Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for six performances beginning September 29.

Brody Price has signed with Niles City Records, a label by singer/songwriter Robert Ellis, producer Josh Block (Leon Bridges, White Denim, Caamp), and artist manager Cara Merendino (Robert Ellis, Liz Cooper). The album features Ellis, as well as John Paul White of The Civil Wars, Will Johnson of Centro-matic, and Andy Baxter of Penny & Sparrow.