(Not) Mad About You

By Drew

No doubt many of you have heard about the, well, mixed reviews for the Met's blockbuster production of Lucia di Lammermoor, starring operababe Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. (If you haven't, you can read a choice sampling here, here, here and here. If that's not enough, or if you're just a glutton for punishment, you can Google and get a few more.) At any rate, Netrebko's mad scene, not only the showstopper of Lucia but one of the great scenes in all of opera, produced what has politely been referred to as a "tepid" response.

For a look at what the response should have been, check out this video of the great Natalie Dessay's mad scene from last season's production of Lucia at the Met. As John Greenleaf Whittier reminds us, the saddest words are it might have been...