Here's Why Broadway Audiences Should Head Uptown for the Metropolitan Opera's New Season

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-17 season opens on September 26 with a new production of Tristan und Isolde. Wagner’s romantic epic kicks off a lineup of six premiere productions and 20 returning stagings, ranging from perennial favorites to new, exciting experiences. This year’s roster—the Met's 50th at Lincoln Center—includes the familiar ABC’s (Aida, La Bohème and Carmen), as well as the following operas that Broadway audiences should keep an eye on. Whether you’re a Lincoln Center regular or someone who usually stays between 41st and 52nd Street, here are a few titles to consider.

Broadway Directors Head Uptown

Roméo et Juliette – Begins December 31
Tony winner Bartlett Sher returns to the Met to ring in the New Year with his production of Gounod’s take on the iconic tragedy. (Last year, he tackled another Shakespearean opera: Otello.) Taking center stage as the star-crossed lovers are a lineup of superstar singers, beginning with Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo. The two have a proven, electric energy, as seen on the Met stage previously in Manon. Sher transports the story to 18th-century Italy, inspired by Fellini’s Casanova.


Rusalka – Begins February 2
Following her productions of Lucia di Lammermoor and La Sonambula at the Met, Tony winner Mary Zimmerman will direct a new production of Dvořák’s fantasy, premiering in February 2017. Zimmerman reunites with her longtime costume designer Mara Blumenfeld, whose concepts evoke a blend fanciful and natural: think water lilies trailing down gowns. The opera tells the tale of a water sprite who gives up her voice to be with a prince on land. Latvian soprano Kristīne Opolais, who opened last year’s new production of Manon Lescaut, takes on the title role and the haunting aria “Song to the Moon.” It’s the “Part of Your World” of arias.

Sher’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia also returns to the Met this year, as do two more productions with Broadway names at the helm: Julie Taymor’s holiday presentation of The Magic Flute and Michael Mayer’s Vegas-set Rigoletto.

Witness La Diva

Manon Lescaut – Begins November 14
Anna Netrebko recently donned wings for her new album cover straight out of Westeros, and this fall, the world-renown soprano flies back to New York to sing the title role in Puccini’s romantic tragedy. For a soprano who sports wings, it’s an appropriate role: Manon transforms from a quiet country girl to Paris starlet to a disease-ridden desert vagrant (all while singingly flawlessly, of course). The visually stunning production places the action in a film noir-era France, replete with beautiful 1940s outfits and a grand-staircase-turned-wasteland. Opolais, who opened the Richard Eyre staging last year, will reprise her role for a few performances as well.


Der Rosenkavalier – Begins April 13
Renée Fleming will headline the Met’s new production of Strauss’ opera. Joining her in Robert Carsen’s opulent staging are Elīna Garanča and Matthew Polenzani; both received thunderous ovations in last season’s Roberto Devereux. The aristocratic Marschallin has become a signature role of Fleming’s, and it could be one of the last in her illustrious opera career. Fleming has gone on record to say this will be her last major opera appearance, so if you have not yet seen La Diva in action, this is your chance.

Looking for more divas? Netrebko will also reprise another signature role centered on transformation, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin this season. After opening the new Roméo et Juliette, Damrau will show off her vocal fireworks in I Puritani, featuring one of the most well-known bel canto mad scenes. Two stunning sopranos—Sonya Yoncheva and Carmen Giannattasio—will take on one of opera’s greatest heroines in La Traviata.

Going Against the Grain

Guillaume Tell – Begins October 18
Many operas can claim at least one tune that rises to notoriety, thanks to the likes of Bugs Bunny, The Fifth Element and Hey Arnold. Such is the case for Rossini’s approach to William Tell, featuring the ubiquitous overture that’s transcended the opera itself. The new staging, a co-production with Dutch National Opera, marks the first time Rossini’s final work has taken the Met stage in over 80 years. Waiting just beyond the familiar overture is an four-and-a-half-hour quest for liberty.


L'Amour de Loin – Begins December 1
L’Amour de Loin, the first opera from Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, will be the Met’s first opera composed by a woman since 1903. Conductor Susanna Mälkki will make her highly-anticipated Met debut with the 2000 piece, about a knight and his faraway lover, separated by the sea, their own idealized perceptions of each other. The Met rarely produces work as contemporary as this, making it a solid pick for both opera aficionados and adventurous theatergoers.

Other picks deviating from the norm in this year’s roster include Idomeneo, one of Mozart’s earliest works, and Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera.

The Metropolitan Opera’s complete 2016-17 season is as follows:
Tristan und Isolde – Begins September 26
Don Giovanni – Begins September 27
La Bohème – Begins September 28
L'Italiana in Algeri – Begins October 4
Guillaume Tell – Begins October 18
Jenůfa – Begins October 28
Aida – Begins November 5
Manon Lescaut – Begins November 14
L'amour de Loin – Begins December 1
Salome – Begins December 5
Nabucco – Begins December 12
The Magic Flute – Begins December 20
Roméo et Juliette – Begins December 31
Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Begins January 9
Carmen – Begins January 19
Rigoletto – Begins January 20
Rusalka – Begins February 2
I Puritani – Begins February 10
Werther – Begins February 16
La Traviata – Begins February 24
Idomeneo – Begins March 6
Fidelio – Begins March 16
Eugene Onegin – Begins March 30
Der Rosenkavalier – Begins April 13
Der Fliegende Holländer – Begins April 25
Cyrano de Bergerac – Begins May 2