Gounod's 'Roméo et Juliette' at the Met

On Friday, April 14 at 9:00 pm, Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette airs on Great Performances at the Met. Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo star as the "star-crossed lovers" in a production by Bartlett Sher, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Last year, Lyric Opera of Chicago also presented Sher's production, which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2008. While Sher was in town for rehearsals, our sister station WFMT caught up with him and asked about Shakespeare in the opera house, including his favorite adaptations and which play he would most like to make into an opera. He even made the provocative claim that "opera is deeply satisfying in a way that Shakespeare cannot be." 

In case you missed the Met's own live broadcast to theaters in January and can't wait for the Great Performances broadcast, whet your appetite with some photos from the production.

Vittorio Grigolo as Roméo. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Diana Damrau as Juliette. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Vittorio Grigolo as Roméo and Diana Damrau as Juliette. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Mikhail Petrenko as Frère Laurent and Diana Damrau as Juliette. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Elliot Madore as Mercutio and Vittorio Grigolo as Roméo. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera