As updated by Robert Carsen, Arabella unfolds in the headiest days of the Third Reich, circa 1938, with lederhosen, swastikas, and Nazi salutes for ambiance. Why, you may well ask. Richard Strauss and his #1 librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal set this last of their collaborations in 1860s Vienna. But in 1933, when the opera premiered, the world was barreling towards apocalypse. Rather than indulge the creators’ nostalgia, Carsen prefers to call it out. His production opened in 2020 to a skeptical reception. The first revival two years later fared no better. And we doubt that this season’s third round will be the charm. To look forward to, however, there’s the sensuous Strauss specialist Diana Damrau in her role debut as the heroine—and that should be something. Arabella, you’ll recall, is the gambler’s daughter whose job is to raise her family from not-so-genteel poverty by marrying very, very well. She’s hard-headed, in her way, but a romantic, too, and her fate—poised on a knife edge between farce and fiasco—is strangely touching. Michael Volle is Mandryka, the country squire who materializes at half a minute to midnight to rescue Arabella. Erin Morley is the lunatic cross-dressing Zdenka, who is desperate to fix her up with the unsuitable military officer Matteo, sung by Pavol Breslik. —Matthew Gurewitsch