From left: Chris Bertholf, Bob Moody, Loryn Benkowski and Monica Wille at work on the set of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Fedora.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
Step Backstage at the Met Opera’s Sumptuous New Production of Fedora
The goal? Recreate the heights of luxury in 1880s Russia, Paris and Switzerland.
On New Year’s Eve, New York’s Metropolitan Opera will premiere a new production of Umberto Giordano’s Fedora. First performed in 1898, the opera, which is based on a play of the same name by Victorien Sardou, tells the story of a Russian princess’s doomed romance.
Starring the soprano Sonja Yoncheva, the somewhat byzantine story follows the princess as she attempts to avenge the murder of her fiancé, Count Vladimir Andrejevich. Eventually, she denounces his murderer (tenor Piotr Beczała) to the tsarist police, but (wait for it) it turns out that all is not what it seemed, the murderer is an honorable man, and he and the princess embark on a love affair. But it’s too late: The denunciation sticks, and tragedy ensues.