Don Giovanni belongs to the category of operas that are insubmersible: as long as the cast is able and has a pulse, neither bad staging nor poor set can sink the show. The new production of Mozart's opera, which opened last night, does not particularly enhance the experience, but the singers delivered. And thus, everyone goes home happy with their heads full of Mozart's wonderful tunes.

Don Giovanni is the womanizer-slash-rapist, and former Adler Lucas Meachem takes on the role with a vocal darkness that, unfortunately, seems undermined by the silliness of the stage direction (by Gabriele Lavia). Meachem oozed both a raffish manliness through the power and depth of his baritone, and a suave seduction in his charming serenade Deh vieni alla finestra. His only minor faux pas came in the champagne aria (Fin ch'han dal vino), taken at a tempo a bit too ambitious by Luisotti, where the singer and orchestra had a hard time staying together.