You remember Medea—the witch who will stop at nothing to win her man, or, when he betrays her, to destroy him. Back in the 20th century, Maria Callas was the Medea of the age, so much so that when she retired the opera by Luigi Cherubini, the filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini coaxed her back to the part in her one and only talkie. In 2022, Cherubini’s version made its belated Metropolitan Opera debut on the opening night of the new season—sung as Callas sang it, in Italian (rather than the original French), with anachronistic recitatives (rather than the original spoken dialogue). Such was the preference of the prima donna Sondra Radvanovsky, who had more than earned her spurs with Met audiences in a recent trifecta of Donizetti’s Tudor queens. Certain musicologists weren’t happy about the edition, but musicologists do not sell tickets. Now Sonya Yoncheva steps into the part, facing off against the chameleon baritenor Michael Spyres. Seen last season as the seafaring Tristan, Spyres now portrays the seafaring Jason, father of Medea’s ill-starred children. David McVicar’s production, with its stunning overhead mirror, is a wow. —Matthew Gurewitsch