A typical rescue opera involves a kidnapped young woman who faces torture or death - until her heroic lover shows up. But in this one, the roles are reversed: it's a man in desperate trouble, and his clever girlfriend gets him out of it.
Director: Brian Large
Conductor: James Levine
Stars: Marilyn Horne, Douglas Ahlstedt, Allan Monk.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1214968/
Premiere 1813
Place: Algiers
Time: The past
When I ran this at Met on Demand, it was only the 26th (of 205) opera I'd viewed there, and I was discovering my love of Italian opera and Rossini. Now this sounds very same-y a lot of the time, and I didn't pay enough attention to get the humor. However, it is great to look at (audio & visual are excellent quality), and this is clearly played for laughs (but didn't hear many from the audience). Biggest applause came for Horne, for whom this had become a signature role.
So next time, be in the mood to actually watch it; it might be worthwhile.
I had gone along with the crowd (8.9 with 11 votes), but today I'm going with 8, and that still might be high for me.
DVD extras include Horne's portion of The Ghosts of Versailles ('92), which was the only good thing about that mess.
MetOpera, cond. Levine; 8
