Metropolitan Opera Aida, 2013

Wow, or maybe I mean anti-wow: there's a PBS broadcast of this production tonight, and I turned it on in time to catch a chunk of Act II. It's the at-this-point elderly Sonja Frisell production, with the following cast:

• Liudmyla Monastyrska (Aida) 
• Olga Borodina (Amneris)
• Roberto Alagna (Radamès)
• George Gagnidze (Amonasro)
• Štefan Kocán (Ramfis)
• Miklós Sebestyén (The King) 

Here's what you need to know: the direction is embarrassingly bad, with amateurish blocking and nothing particularly reflecting the passions at play. Worse, the conducting is shockingly dull, with little sense of either grandeur or intimacy. Honestly, the opera was just about limping along with no sparkle or life when I turned it off.

Imagine my surprise: Fabio Luisi was conducting. I would have thought he would be good at Verdi.