Le Prophète

Meyerbeer’s grand operas once ruled the operatic world, but they’re rarities today. With this performance the Met pulled out all the stops to show modern audiences what all the fuss was about. James McCracken is Jean of Lyden, a simple innkeeper who is proclaimed the Prophet and who leads a religious uprising in medieval Holland. During the turmoil he denounces his mother, Fidès (Marilyn Horne at her spectacular best), and his fiancé, Berthe (a passionate Renata Scotto), turns on him. The opera ends catastrophically but is filled with colorful music.