A mere eight years after its Covent Garden premiere, Thomas Ades's The Tempest opens at the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday. The composer, who conducts, previously worked with director Robert Lepage on a disappointing 2008 The Rake's Progress at the Royal Opera House.
For this show Lepage has a much bigger budget, and he comes up with something for everybody - acrobats, circus performers, an uncanny replica of La Scala and Simon Keenlyside with tattoos. Despite these lavish accoutrements, not everyone who saw the test run in Québec a couple of months ago was impressed.
The 10 November performance will be shown live in cinemas.
all photos: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Here's the Met's preview, including a few words from the director:
