Arrigo Boito's opera Mefistofele is an odd duck to open the season. It clocks at three and a half hours (thus an eternity before getting to the post-performance opening-night parties). It's not a beloved war horse. It's a weird blend of the German and Italian musical styles of the late 19th century. Its non-linear plot takes meditative turns and makes sense only if you have read an annotated synopsis or better, the two volumes of Goethe's Faust. Opening night calls for an opera speedy and light to celebrate the new season. Mefistofele is anything but.

And yet the Opera's gamble paid off, thanks to an inspired staging full of invention by Robert Carsen (from 1989, revived this time by Laurie Feldman), a set design (by Michael Levine) richer than a flourless chocolate cake, a phenomenal performance by bass Ildar Abdrazakov, and a clearly joyous opera chorus.