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The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Season 2 Episodes
Season 2 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2007 - 2008
Episode 1
Gounod: Roméo et Juliette
Sat, Dec 15, 2007192 mins
Gounod follows Shakespeare's story closely, with minor alterations to satisfy the needs of opera. The stage and scenery are filled with astronomical symbols to depict the tragedy of "star-crossed lovers" from two warring houses in Verona.
Episode 2
Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel
Wed, Mar 26, 2008112 mins
Set in the industrialized 1950s, Hansel and Gretel are latch-key kids to a depressed mother and overworked father. The witch runs a stainless-steel kitchen with modern gadgets and a glass-door oven. One hopes it's the self-cleaning kind.
Episode 3
Verdi: Macbeth
Sun, Apr 13, 2008
The witches tell fortunes: Macbeth will be King, Banquo will beget Kings. Macbeth helps the agenda by murdering King Duncan; and, what the heck, Banquo, too. Macbeth takes the crown, Lady Macbeth hosts a dinner; Banquo crashes the event.
Episode 4
Puccini: Manon Lescaut
Sun, Apr 27, 2008
The Chevalier is disowned by his aristocratic family after he seduces Manon into running away with him to Paris. He goes ever deeper into debt in his attempts to provide the luxury that Manon demands.
Episode 5
Britten: Peter Grimes
174 mins
Peter Grimes, an unmarried, eccentric fisherman, can't keep an apprentice: they disappear mysteriously every time. In the absence of OSHA laws or child-protective services, the townspeople gather to conduct an inquest into the matter.
Episode 6
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
249 mins
Wagner's supporters say that he took music to new heights of expression here; his detractors say it's the death-knell for melody and structure. It's four hours of aching yearning that does not rest until the last few minutes of the opera.
Episode 7
Puccini: La Bohème
Sun, Jun 15, 2008150 mins
The perennial Puccini crowd-pleaser, with its tale of life and love among the Parisian artists of the 1840s, is brought to the big screen in the Met's famous production, originally conceived by Franco Zefirelli. We know the outcome even before the first act ends, but Puccini's music is so moving, so powerfully simple and direct, that it never fails. Puccini's genius sense of drama and emotion shines through in the final moments of the opera; where a lesser composer would likely end the story with the death of the heroine, a big "bang-crash" from the orchestra, Puccini does the opposite. He sustains the suspense for a few more minutes, ever so quietly, as he shows each of the surviving characters whispering and realizing, until Rodolfo, the last to see the truth, finally reacts. That is where the power of this opera comes from.
Episode 8
Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment
Sun, Jun 29, 2008170 mins
Marie, lost as a baby, was found and raised by the local regiment. Tonio loves her, she loves him, but when her aunt recognizes her, it seems they will never be allowed to be together.
