Nude actors wearing Mickey-mouse masks walk past opera singer Adina Aaron as Amelia (L) as they perform on stage during a rehearsal of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Ein Maskenball” (“Un Ballo in maschera” / “A masked Ball”) directed by Austrian Johann Kresnik, on April 9, 2008 in the eastern town of Erfurt. The production will have its premiere on April 12, for which Kresnik hired some 30 seniors to take part in the opera. (Photo credit – JENS-ULRICH KOCH/AFP/Getty Images)
Il Trovatore has gypsies, burning at the stake, dead babies, mistaken identity, poison, love, hate, revenge and enough plot holes to sink the Titanic. It also has some very effective dramatic moments and some utterly fabulous music. The biggest snag is probably that the utterly fantastic music needs a quartet of soloists who can deal with fiendishly difficult parts that require a combination of flawless bel canto technique coupled to Puccinian power and stamina. The power and stamina requirement being especially high in a barn like the Met. It also has a dramatical problem in that it consists if a sequence of fairly short scenes which means a production runs the risk of being chopped up by the changes of set.
