As not every weekend will see us traveling outside of Phoenix, we must find the things nearby that will lend new memories to our lives. Echoing out of May 1997 was our first encounter with Lucia di Lammermoor that arrived via a blue alien diva in the movie 5th Element. Twenty-five years later we are seeing a modern adaptation of Gaetano Donizetti’s and Salvadore Cammarano’s opera originally based on a book by Sir Walter Scott titled, The Bride of Lammermoor. The first part of this modern interpretation following Lucy Ashton (Lucia) and her struggles in 17th century Scotland first performed in 1835 in Italy has now been brought forward to America’s rustbelt in a broken impoverished community with a gangster problem.

Fire Shut Up In My Bones by jazz musician Terence Blanchard was my first encounter with truly contemporary opera and this was my second experience with opera seen through a setting that modern viewers might easier relate to. Just as with the previous simulcast from The Metropolitan Opera of Fire Shut Up In My Bones, I wanted to dislike the very idea of dragging me out of the history of what the original was portraying. Like that other opera, this version of Lucia di Lammermoor took a moment to find its way through my expectations.

Props to The Metropolitan Opera for switching things up and experimenting with greater diversity, mixed media, and betting on artists that might bring new fans into opera. This must surely be an epic undertaking worthy of the greatest operatic stories told upon their very stage. Our next visit to a Met simulcast is just 2 weeks away with a performance of Hamlet.