Agrippina does the Big Apple. The iridescent Joyce DiDonato portrays Handel’s titular viper in scenes straight out of I, Claudius, joined by an all-star cast of wily barocchisti. The heroine’s vicious son Nero (Kate Lindsey) looms large in the plot but does not fiddle. The historically punctilious class act Sir David McVicar directs. If you’re thinking this will be a replay of the recent Covent Garden production, also starring DiDonato but directed by the quirky Barrie Kosky—don’t. —M.G.