NEW YORK—The Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production of Rossini’s “L'Italiana in Algeri” (“The Italian Girl in Algiers”) has been a crowd pleaser at the Metropolitan Opera since 1973. With witty additions by stage director David Kneuss, and with Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducting and a fine cast, the opera still delights.
Rossini’s 1813 opera deals with captivity and a rescue, but the resourceful title character is the one who wins freedom for herself and her lover.
The setting is the seaside palace of the Bey (chieftain) Mustafà in Algiers in the early 19th century. His wife, Elvira, suspects that her husband’s affection for her has waned, and she turns out to be right.
(L–R) Ying Fang as Elvira, Ildar Abdrazakov as Mustafà, Marianna Pizzolatto as Isabella, Rene Barbera as Lindoro, Nicola Alaimo as Taddeo, Rihab Chaieb as Zulma, and Dwayne Croft as Haly in Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri." Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
