Every Met Opera I Saw, Ranked

During the coronavirus pandemic up until last month, the Metropolitan Opera graciously allowed nightly streams of their operas to be viewed for free by the general public. Through this, I was able to see twenty-one operas, broadening my knowledge of the art form. And since I have some strong feelings about some of these, I’d thought I’d do a ranking. However, I am not a music specialist by trade, but rather a storyteller. As such, I am ranking and evaluating these operas from a storytelling perspective. While this sounds counterintuitive in some ways, it shows how the top-ranked ones really shined at telling a compelling story, though I will mention the music if it stood out to me. As such, I am including the years of the productions I saw all of the opera for, though I did see parts of other productions for some. Information about these productions is available on the Met Opera on Demand website, which does have a seven-day free trial. The descriptions do contain some SPOILERS for these operas.

Honorable Mention: The Audition - This was a very interesting documentary about the Met Opera’s annual National Council Auditions, which included at least one opera singer I had seen in their transmissions. It increased my appreciation for the craft involved in opera and the fate of one of the winners made the ending very sad. I don’t know if it’s available anywhere else, but if it is, I’d recommend it.

21) Don Pasquale (1979) - This was a typical comic opera of creating an elaborate scheme to get back at a selfish aristocrat. I might have ranked this higher if I saw a more recent production, and while it was cute, it didn’t leave much of an impact, and there were other comic operas on this list that I thought were stronger.

20) Turnadot (2019) - I was actually surprised that this had a happy ending, especially since it’s a Puccini opera, but I also found the plot rather weird. The prince is rather lucky considering how stupid he acts and everything almost seemed to resolve too easily, especially considering how many people have died during the story. I also found the riddles to be too odd. Might be reading too much into this, but I can’t help it. Loved the production design and costumes, though.

19) Tosca (2018) - This is a case of a tragic ending happening because the characters are stupid. Seriously, if Cavaradossi hadn’t gloated when he found out that the French were marching on Rome, he might not have been executed and the tragic end might have been avoided. Scarpia’s death was very satisfying, though.

18) Madama Butterfly (2019) - This is the perfect example of an opera that really stretches out its story. Pinkerton really must be one of the worst lovers in opera history to use Butterfly so poorly. I did find this production’s use of puppetry very intriguing and the simplistic set worked for this production. I also love Butterfly’s costume.

17) Il Trovatore (2015) - This seemed to use every opera cliche in the book - a love triangle, a rivalry, ending on an irony, poisoning oneself for their lover, etc. It definitely didn’t do a lot to stand out story-wise, though it does have good music. I just wished they had spent a little more time with the two lovers early on so we could really route for them.

16) Porgy and Bess (2020) - Having grown up listening to Barbra Streisand’s cover of “I Loves You Porgy/Porgy, I’s Your Woman Now,” it was nice to finally understand the context of these two songs. This might have one of the subtlest bleak endings of any opera I saw. It did feel very long and outside a few highlights, the music didn’t do much for me, at least in this production.

15) La Fancilulla del West (2011) - I was so shocked to discover that this opera had a happy ending since it seemed to be set up to end in tragedy and it is a Puccini opera. It certainly was interesting to see an opera take place in the Old West. This story is definitely an example of why you should really get to know someone before declaring that you love them. It does do a good job of making a bandit sympathetic, though.

14) Samson et Dalihla (2018) - I actually played a small snippet of the Bacchanale in Act Three during high school orchestra (as part of a piece called “The Best of the Ballet,” ironically). The only two problems I had with this production were that the singer playing Samson didn’t have a beard and that the ending felt a little unclear if you didn’t know the story. This was definitely an elaborate production, though, appropriate for the source material.

13) Carmen (2014) - This opera undoubtedly has some great music, but I really didn’t understand Don Jose’s sudden obsession with Carmen and the great lengths he’d go for her, especially since he had a perfectly good girlfriend loving him already. Maybe if Micaela hadn’t spent so much of their time together singing about his mother, he wouldn’t have been so drawn to Carmen. Also, I would have thought the ending wouldn’t have been slightly more complicated and not so straightforward, at least based on how the Met Opera host described it.

12) Le Nozze die Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (2014) - This is another example of those fun opera comedies, though there were so many moving parts to this one that it was hard to keep track of all of it, especially when it came to the character of Cherubino, whom I thought added little to the story. The last act was definitely the clearest.

11) Falstaff (2013) - This was one of the better opera comedies I saw because the plot was rather clear but had some twists and turns. It was interesting that the production I saw moved the action to the 1950s, making for a great aesthetic.

10) Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) (2017) - This opera seemed tailor-made for me, but I didn’t really understand it that well. I really didn’t understand exactly how the Queen of the Night was suddenly a villain, despite giving Tamino the magic tools that he needs to join Sarastro. Because of this, I was rather confused about what exactly the plot was, and I especially found the follow-up to the famous scene where the Queen demands Pamina kill Sarastro was too anti-climatic. I did appreciate how colorful and elaborate this production was.

9) Rusalka (2017) - This opera somehow made Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid’s ending even bleaker. It’s essentially the same story, except instead of a mermaid, she’s a water-nymph. I also found it interesting that in this version, the Foreign Princess rejects the Prince after he betrays Rusalka. There is a bit of magic that isn’t explained, such as what draws the prince to her in the first place. I’m mostly impressed that they managed to do an opera whose main character is mute for a good chunk of time on stage, but they have a clever way to work around it.

8) Cendrillon (2018) - This is more or less a basic retelling of Cinderella with some twists, such as her father not only being alive, but also unable to tolerate his second wife as much as Cinderella, named Lucette in this version. The sets in this production were clever, but also odd. The most intriguing scene was when Cinderella and her prince find each other in the woods and for some reason are unable to see each other at first because of the fairy godmother. It’s a great idea, but it does make me wonder why he still needs to find her through the glass slipper if he’s already learned her name.

7) Hansel and Gretel (2008) - This was the first production I saw through the nightly streams and found it a fine retelling of the classic fairy tale. Having listened to the Boston Pops recording of the Dream Pantomime since I was a kid, it was nice to finally understand its surreal context. Seriously, what is it with operas adding surrealism to their fairy tales?

6) The Merry Widow (2015) - This was one of the few operas on this list that I had seen before the pandemic, as well as performing an orchestra arrangement of its great music in high school. I really like this opera, but the only reason this isn’t higher on the list is because I wasn’t as into this production and actually prefer the Opera Tampa version I saw live on stage, which portrayed the main love story between Hanna and the Count a lot better. I also really didn’t like Valencienne’s dress in this production.

5) La Traviata (2017) - This opera reminded me a lot of La Boheme, and not just because the versions I saw starred the same two singers. Yes, it has the usual harsh jealousy driving a man mad with anger and Violetta probably should have just given Alfredo a clue as to what was going on, but I liked how it was resolved and I appreciated Giorgio’s repentance of his actions. It also reminded me a lot of the movie, The Slipper and the Rose. The production design of the version I saw was unusual and I liked their using the doctor to represent death. Plus, the music was really good.

4) Ill Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) (2007) - I really enjoyed this opera with really famous music. It had a clear plot and I was really rooting for the two lovers to win. Plus, I really like Rossini’s style of music. It’s very fast-paced and entertaining. My only disappointment was that The Rabbit of Seville parody didn’t include more references to the opera.

3) Romeo et Juliette (2017, 2007) - I really love Romeo and Juliet, so I really enjoyed the opera adaptation, which really worked since the play is tailor-made for this art form, fitting in with all the cliches. I found some of the changes in condensing the story interesting, such as the deletion of Rosaline and starting right at the party. I also really liked how the opera handles the ending slightly differently than the play. The two productions I saw had very different approaches, and I probably prefer the 2007 version slightly more, despite the more simplistic set, because I liked the direction, performances, and costumes slightly more.

2) La Boheme (2018) - My first date ever was to see La Boheme, an opera I was slightly familiar with through the movie, Moonstruck, so I was looking forward to seeing it again. While it does drag in some places and I have a tendency to skip the second act altogether, I really like this opera, as it has a good, simple story, even if they do fall in love too quickly, and great music. I also have to give a shout-out to singer Michael Fabiano, who had one of the best acting performances I saw through these streams, outside of singing. I also took some inspiration from this opera while working on revisions for one of my novels. What can I say? This is a classic for a reason.

1) La Cenerentola (2009, 2014) - Besides the fact that I love Cinderella, this was by far the most entertaining and rewatchable opera I saw. Rossini might have become my favorite opera composer because not only are his compositions fast-paced, but his stories don’t drag either. This is a really interesting take on the fairy tale, adding several twists to the classic story, such as a stepfather instead of stepmother, a bracelet instead of a glass slipper, and an elaborate switched identity plot on account of the prince and his servant. It was also one of the funniest operas I saw. And Elina Garanca in the 2009 version really does have the perfect face to play Cinderella. I really love this opera and highly recommend seeing it.