The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video

For anyone trying to select the best from the vast array of operas on video. In this latest handbook from the Metropolitan Opera, fourteen opera mavens evaluate performances of over 150 of the best-loved operas. The new Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video enables opera lovers to choose widely from the hundreds of available video recordings by reading expert comparative reviews and by following explicit, trustworthy recommendations. Everyone who enjoyed the successful Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera will love this companion volume, published jointly by the Metropolitan Opera Guild and W. W. Norton.

For those with an interest in opera, videos provide an easy way to keep up with trends in stage direction, catch productions mounted far away, and enjoy a pleasant evening's entertainment. As with audio recordings, indulging an interest in videos can become an expensive proposition, particularly because opera videos are seldom available for rent. Furthermore, advertisements for such videos seldom go into more detail than the name of a star or two and the company where the opera was produced; it's caveat emptor. For people who want to own more than simply a better copy of a Metropolitan Opera production that they happened to catch on public television, a guidebook becomes invaluable. Although you might question the wisdom of publishing something in hardcover that will, of necessity, quickly become outdated, The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video will quickly pay for itself if it steers you away from just two or three teledogs. If you enjoy opera on video, The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video will save you both money and unnecessary annoyance. The summaries prove particularly useful when a given opera has been filmed in several versions. Which one to buy? The critics will tell you!