A mere 109 years after the world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, China gets its first peek at Puccini’s crazy horse opera, set in the California of the Gold Rush. Marco Berti sings the outlaw antihero, stepping into big boots first worn by Enrico Caruso. Versed in operatic tradition but not paralyzed by it, the talented Thaddeus Strassberger brings a smart postmodernist sensibility to the dual assignment of designer and director. —M.G.