Mar. 20, 2009
The next installment in The Met: Live in HD series will be a new production of La Sonnambula, Vincenzo Bellini's gentle1831 pastoral comedy about a young woman who finds herself in hot water with her fiancé when she sleepwalks into the wrong man's bedroom. The slim plot has kept the opera from becoming a staple of the repertoire, but it's full of delightful music, and in the hands of the right performers it can be a real charmer. This production features soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Juan Diego Flórez, who are vocally ideal for the bel canto repertoire, and who created real electricity in last year's La Fille du Régiment. The controversial production by Mary Zimmerman moves the action to the present and sets it in the rehearsal space of an opera company rehearsing for a performance of La Sonnambula. It's guaranteed to be a fresh and intriguing take on the opera.
The live transmission of La Sonnambula will be on Saturday, March 21, starting at 1:00 pm (ET), with an encore broadcast on Wednesday, April 1, at 7:00 pm (local time) in the US, and Saturday, April 25 in Canada. Check your local theatre listings for details, or check out the Met’s website.