Opera at The Ridgefield Playhouse: What Are You Waiting For?

RIDGEFIELD, CT — The Metropolitan Opera in HD is easily the most overlooked, if not the absolute best, arts value in town. In a burg known for its arts values, that's saying something.

The Ridgefield Playhouse offers free tickets for the series to students 18 and younger to make it easier for parents to expose their kids to the kind of arts they can't easily download. For everyone else it's a $25 ticket, $20 for seniors and members, and still a bargain.

Opera, of course, is not always an easy sell. The so-called "Emperor of the Arts" — so-called because it incorporates all those lesser arts like music, singing, ballet, set design and such —quite frequently comes with a language barrier. Seventeenth century European audiences could be expected to understand and appreciate librettos in German or Italian, no matter where they were raised. Twenty-first century American audiences? Not so much. Even two of the greatest modern operas, "Akhnaten" and "Satyagraha" composed by American Philip Glass, have librettos in ancient Egyptian and Sanskrit, respectively. It's almost like opera is playing with you, punking you for only ever bothering to study English.

For those of you who have always wanted to "get into" opera but found yourselves still un-elucidated and possibly permanently damaged after binge-listening to "The Ring Cycle," I recommend The Teaching Company's "How to Listen to and Understand Opera," taught by UC Berkeley music professor Robert Greenberg. The audio lectures are the perfect companion for a month's worth of commutes into the city; Greenberg trims the turgid and makes the complex accessible, with enthusiasm and wit.

As for The Playhouse's next presentation from The Met in HD, an encore showing of "Adriana Lecouvreur" starring soprano Anna Netrebko in the title role, it's a corker. In fact, it could almost be the poster child for complex and over-the-top theater (if that role hadn't already been filled by those spear-carrying pig-tailed blondes in Wagner's "Die Walküre"). The lead is a soprano diva's dream role, sung most famously by Renata Scotto. The plot is filled with love lost, love found, concealed identities, jealousy, revenge and, naturally, poison. There's a lot going on, but all of it is set to some of the most beautiful music you will ever hear.

The composer, Francesco Cilea, is not a member of the Italian opera Hit Parade. He only wrote five operas between 1887 and 1907, and turned his back on the whole genre when his fifth opus, "Gloria," was savaged by the critics. This proved, once again, that if you're going to play in the opera big leagues, you need to know a thing or two about music, sure, but just as importantly you need a thick skin.

Netrebko is joined by tenor Piotr Beczała as Adriana’s lover, Maurizio. The principal cast also features mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili and baritone Ambrogio Maestri. Gianandrea Noseda conducts. Sir David McVicar’s staging, which sets the action in a working replica of a Baroque theater, premiered at the Royal Opera House in London. The Guardian loved it, praising its “elegant production, sumptuously designed." You will, too.

The Ridgefield Playhouse encore showing of The Metropolitan Opera in HD's presentation of "Adriana Lecouvreur" is on Sunday, Jan. 13, at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are available online.

Photo of Anna Netrebko in the title role of "Adriana Lecouvreur" as produced by the Metropolitan Opera and presented at The Ridgefield Playhouse.