The second season of Great Performances at The Met kicks off with a special prime-time broadcast of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel starring Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer, followed by seven extraordinary performances.
The second-season opener features the Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Hansel and Gretel," about two children (Alice Coote, Christine Schäfer) who meet a witch (Philip Langridge) in the woods.
A production of "Roméo et Juliette," starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna as the star-crossed lovers. Placido Domingo conducts the orchestra and chorus for the opera. Tybalt: Marc Heller. Paris: Louis Otey. Capulet: Charles Taylor. Gertrude: Jane Bunnell. Grégorio: David Won. Benvolio: Tony Stevenson. Duke of Verona: Dean Peterson.
Adrian Noble's version of Verdi's "Macbeth" sets the opera in a decimated post-WWII landscape and stars baritone Željko Lucic as Lord Macbeth and soprano Maria Guleghina as Lady Macbeth. James Levine conducts. Macduff: Dimitri Pittas. Banquo: John Relyea.
Puccini's "Manon Lescaut," about a country girl (Karita Mattila) who's torn between an impoverished student (Marcello Giordani) who loves her and a rich man (Dale Travis) who wants her to be his mistress. Lescaut: Dwayne Croft.
Anthony Dean Griffey stars in the title role of Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes," about an English fisherman blamed for the deaths of two assistants. Ellen Orford: Patricia Racette. Capt. Balstrode: Anthony Michaels-Moore. Mrs. Sedley: Felicity Palmer.
A production of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," about the doomed love between a Celtic princess (Deborah Voigt) and a knight (Robert Dean Smith), who's the nephew of King Marke (Matti Salminen), to whom she's betrothed. Brangäne: Michelle DeYoung. Melot: Stephen Gaertner. Kurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte.
A production of Puccini's "La Bohème," about a doomed love affair between poet Rodolfo (Ramón Vargas) and seamstress Mimi (Angela Gheorghiu) in 1830s Paris. Marcello: Ludovic Tézier. Musetta: Ainhoa Arteta. Schaunard: Quinn Kelsey.
Coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay stars as Marie, an orphan adopted by French troops in this production of Donizetti's comedic "Fille du Régiment," which updates the setting from the Napoleonic era to World War I. Tenor Juan Diego Flórez costars as Tonio, the soldier she's promised to wed. Marquise of Berkenfield: Felicity Palmer. Sgt. Sulpice: Alessandro Corbelli. Duchess of Krakenthorp: Marian Seldes.