America's prayers have been answered. Peter Gelb tells the Austrian Kurier newspaper that Calixto Bieito is coming to the Met.
He doesn't mention which opera, but it's unlikely that Bieito's botty-tastic Stuttgart Parsifal (above) will be imported. The director is a latter-day master of tailoring his productions to the sensibilities of their intended audiences, so the temperate style of his acclaimed Bavarian State Opera production of Boris Godunov is more likely.
Calixto Bieito's Fidelio opens at ENO on 25 September - and his Die Soldaten just three days before that, on 22 September in Zurich.
Fidelio has already been staged (and revived) in Munich. Die Soldaten is a brand new production of a long and complex work. So which production will get the lion's share of Bieito's personal attention?
Of course directors often delegate revivals and transfers to other people, and there's nothing wrong with that - unless the show is sold on the director's name, as all ENO productions are this season.
If ENO's strapline "Fidelio - Directed by Calixto Bieito" is currently missing a " 's assistant", now would be the time to add it.
There are underpants aplenty in ENO’s ‘new’ (actually 13 year old) Carmen, but, contrary to reputation, director Calixto Bieito seems unwilling to drop them. When it gets down to the real meat and potatoes, only one todger is served up. To the orchestral opening of the third act, a wafty, homoerotic dance solo suggests the soldier in question can only be at peace in his fantasies. Well, if you've got to stick a willy in Carmen, I suppose that's not a bad place to do it.
Lord Sugar has set the contestants in BBC One's Young Apprentice a challenge of operatic dimensions.
Their next task is to race round London sourcing props for Calixto Bieito's upcoming ENO Carmen as cheaply as possible. The team that returns to the Coliseum with the most items for the least dosh wins.
Calixto Bieito's new Carmen is more than two weeks away but already over half the tickets are gone - making it a roaring success by ENO standards. The sad consequence of this unprecedented popularity is that cheap ticket deals may be thin on the ground.
Fortunately, there's still a way to bag a cheap(ish) advance seat, if you're quick. As readers Martin and Sarah have kindly pointed out, the only dynamic thing about ENO - their new pricing scheme - means that Monday to Thursday tickets at the back of the upper circle (no surtitles visible) are 'only' £25 before opening night.
OK, so that's not such a great deal compared with some of the discount codes we've seen over the last couple of years. But if you're not willing/able to queue up at TKTS on the day on the off chance of a bargain, it's a reliable way to get hold of a cheap ticket.
Bieito is currently busy with Forests at the Barbican, a terrifying (at least if you're in the front row) patchwork of Shakespeare, Beckett, Goya and Alan Titchmarsh. Worth a try, with good seats as little at £16 (or £12.80 for members). Need any more encouragement? The Daily Mail called it "state-subsidised bilingual bilge". Praise indeed.
If there's one thing all the reviewers agreed on, it's that Calixto Bieito's new production of Platée is super-popular with Stuttgart operagoers.
Bieito has set Rameau's baroque comedy gem in a Studio 54 style temple of 70s hedonism, with the titular nymph (played by a man) an oddly Thatcheresque figure in a blue wrap dress.
It looks from the photos (more below) as if his trademark bare-all approach has given way to family-friendly oversized prosthetics - at least this time.
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