This was the encore me and my boyfriend tried to go see back in 2016, but we couldn't make it. So we watched it on the night of Thursday the 13th.
Turandot centers around a Chinese princess who will only marry the man who answers her three riddles; if he can't, he'll lose his noggin. An unkown prince, Calaf by name, comes along and solves the riddles and thus wins the right to marry Turandot, but she is still resistant. Well, then the prince gives her a riddle: see if she can guess his name before dawn. The whole populace is kept awake on pain of death, but the loyal slave girl Liu sacrifices herself to bring about Turandot's redemption.
This opera is one of my favorites, and it's not hard to see why. The music is some of Puccini's best and it has some of the best moments in opera ever. The ending feels a bit rushed, but that was due to Puccini dying before he finished the opera. Nonetheless, it has remained a mainstay of the operatic repertoire; the famous Riddle Scene and Calaf's aria "Nessun Dorma" being the most popular moments in the whole opera. I myself have sung the slave girl Liu's final aria "Tu Che di Gel Sei Cinta" in recital back in 2015 (too bad I didn't get a decent enough video).
And this production is awesome. Franco Zefarelli wanted a Chinese opera style for the production, and it works. The dancers, supernumeraries, the makeup for Turandot, it's all super awesome. My only beef is why is the Emperor not the one wearing the veil of stars while his attendants do? Small quibble of course, but still.
I think the Met will have a hard time finding a replacement production. This one is so iconic for the company that a new production will need to be especially notable.
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