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DTSTAMP:20261023T181132Z
UID:f42e752f-703d-4158-a493-4a72bdb04b65
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261231
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261023
DESCRIPTION:Dec 31\, 2026 - Jan 20\, 2027\nWorld premieres have never been 
 the lifeblood of the Metropolitan Opera. Not until the company had been in
  business upward of a quarter century did it introduce its first brand-new
  title\, which over the years has emerged as far and away the most success
 ful on a list that now totals a modest 35 (that’s including this season
 ’s Lincoln in the Bardo\, by Missy Mazzoli). Yes\, we’re talking about
  Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (1910)\, based on the Gold Rush
  blockbuster written\, designed\, and directed by David Belasco\, the Prom
 etheus of Broadway. The Met’s big guns were out in force. As Minnie\, mi
 stress of the Polka Saloon\, Bible reader\, and brazen cheater at cards\, 
 Emmy Destinn made a gold-hearted Tosca of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Enr
 ico Caruso sang the outlaw she falls for\, with Pasquale Amato as the smit
 ten lawman who wants to send him to the gallows. Arturo Toscanini conducte
 d\, with Belasco himself masterminding all particulars of the staging and 
 production. At the box office\, opening-night tickets went for three to te
 n dollars (double the usual price). Per a newspaper report\, one lucky sca
 lper unloaded a single for $150 while others got burned\, left to hawk the
 ir treasure at face value minutes before curtain. Critics rank the score o
 f Fanciulla as one of Puccini’s finest\, yet over the long haul\, its lu
 ster with the public has dimmed. The Met’s all-time top seller\, La Boh
 ème\, chalked up 1\,430 performances from its Met premiere in 1900 throug
 h the end of last season\, with another 17 to be added over the current se
 ason (Moonstruck\, anyone?). Fanciulla’s tally through its most recent p
 erformance\, in 2018\, stands at 111. At that\, no other Met novelty has c
 ome anywhere close to three figures\, and any reboot is a major occasion. 
 What will this one look like? Don’t ask the British director Richard Jon
 es\, who runs closed rehearsals and blows interviewers off with his dictum
  that a show must speak for itself. The Vogue-ready Lithuanian Valkyrie Vi
 da Miknevičiūtė makes her house debut as Minnie opposite the self-effac
 ing Korean phenom SeokJong Baek as her outlaw beau. The British baritone C
 hristopher Maltman\, formerly an A-list Don Giovanni\, now a reigning Wota
 n\, plays the losing hand of Jack Rance\, whose sheriff’s badge cuts no 
 ice with Minnie at all. Guess who gets to ride off into the sunset?
LOCATION:Metropolitan Opera\, 30 Lincoln Center Plaza\, New York\, NY 10023
 \, USA
SUMMARY:La Fanciulla del West\, by Giacomo Puccini
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/la-fanciulla-del-west
 -by-giacomo-puccini-1
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