L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love) is an Opera Buffa or comic melodrama. Since its opening in 1832, it has remained one of Gaetano Donizetti's most loved and most performed operas, containing elements of comedy and melancholy, with some beautiful arias, in particular Una furtiva lagrima (a furtive tear).

The opera tells the tale of Nemorino, a poor peasant, who is in love with the beautiful and wealthy landowner Adina. Unfortunately for Nemorino, Adina treats him with nothing but contempt and indifference. Desperate, Nemorino seeks the help of the traveling quack doctor Dulcamara, who assures him he has the perfect solution…

A ballet in two (now three) acts by Christopher Wheeldon with a scenario by Nicholas Wright, music by Joby Talbot. Based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was commissioned by The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, and the National Ballet of Canada. The world premiere was on Monday, February 28, 2011.

Massenet's Cenrdrillon, with libretto by Henri Cain, is based on Charles Perrault's version of the fairy tale in his collection Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé published in 1697. As such, the story differs somewhat from the usual version of the fairytale.

Cendrillon opened in Paris on May 24, 1899 and was an immediate success, enjoying a run of 50 performances. It went to enjoy success in many opera houses around the world, although it was not performed at the Met until 2018. The melodic score evokes the fantastical nature of the fairytale and features some of Massenent's most beautiful music.

La fanciulla del West is an opera by Giacomo Puccini based on the 1905 play The Girl of the Golden West, a melodrama set in the Californian gold rush by the American playwright David Belasco. The opera and play tell the story of Minnie (the Girl of the Golden West) as she struggles against the long-arm of the law to save the life of the man she desperately loves.

The opera opened at the Met on December 10, 1910 and this production therefore celebrates its centenary. Puccini created the roles of Dick and Minnie for Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn, who were two of the biggest stars of the Met at the time. Arturo Toscanini conducted, calling the work “a great symphonic poem”. The production was extremely well received by audiences; at the first performance, Puccini received fourteen curtain calls after the first act, nineteen curtain calls after the second act, and twenty after the finale. Puccini himself declared the opera to be greatest composition of his career as a composer.

However, critical reaction was less than enthusiastic especially in the U.S., where critics found the Puccini failed to capture the essence of the American West. After the New York opening, the opera was widely performed internationally with mostly positive reactions from audiences, but the critical reaction was again mostly negative. Probably because of this, performances started to become less frequent and the opera became less popular than some of Puccini's other works. Today it is still performed, but less frequently than some of Puccini's other operas: Tosca, Madama Butterfly, etc.

A somewhat different take on Puccini's opera, this is a feature film directed by Robert Dornhelm. IMDB.

The libretto of La Bohème is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa and is based on Henri Murger's 1851 novel, Scènes de la Vie de Bohème, a collection of short stories about young bohemians living in Paris in the 1840s. However, the book has no real plot and much of the libretto is original writing. Acts two and three are the mostly the librettists' invention, with a just few incidents occurring in Murger's book. Most of acts one and four are to be found in the book, drawing together various incidents from a number of chapters.