The Rake's Progress NYC Reviews and Tickets

84%

(8 Ratings)

Positive

100%

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Great singing, Slow, Entertaining, Great staging, Accessible

About the Show

An opera that draws inspiration from a series of paintings and engravings by William Hogarth.

Igor Stravinsky created the dark comedy opera during the neoclassical phase of his career, building the score around stylistic references to the work of earlier composers while also maintaining his uncanny, even macabre sense that is distinctly modern.

The opera had its world premiere in 1951 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy. Jonathan Miller’s surreal staging was last seen at the Met in 2015.

Susanna Mälkki returns to the Met to lead the opera. She is joined by young star tenor Ben Bliss as Tom Rakewell, soprano Golda Schultz as Anne Trulove, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Nick Shadow.

Show-Score Member Reviews (8)

Resonant, Intelligent, Great singing, Absorbing, Thought-provoking

See it if You like your opera to have story that moves you and makes you think.

Don't see it if You prefer a traditional opera.

Heartbreaking performances, Accessible, Visually & musically sumptuous, Great staging, Great singing

See it if GoldaSchultz as Anne, BenBliss as Tom, Christian Van Horn as NickShadow Raehann Bryce-Davis as Baba have meaning 4 U, accessible in English

Don't see it if can't get over your distaste 4 opera, can't afford ticket price, don't like foreign language/it's in English although vowel tones dominate

Hogarth's classic drawings the backdrop, Stravinsky brass, Auden libretto

See it if You like Igor Stravinsky's brassy classical style and would appreciate W.H. Auden's libretto in opera based on 8 Hogarth 18th C paintings.

Don't see it if Based on 8 famed William Hogarth paintings (in London's Sir John Soane Museum)--ultimately prints--tracking downfall of Tom Rakewell.

Slow, Disappointing, Entertaining

See it if To the Met for the sake of the Met.

Don't see it if Poor production design with appx short pauses for set changes.

Entertaining, Clever, Slow, Great singing

See it if You would like to experience a performance at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera. Wonderful staging and singing. Although in English I

Don't see it if Still needed to follow the subtitles. Can be slow at times. But overall an enjoyable experience. I caught the last performance for the Read more

Quirky, Fluffy, Great acting, Great singing, Entertaining

See it if you like a light hearted Faustian tale superbly sung and acted, like grand opera without the deaths, or like Stravinsky. It’s in English!

Don't see it if you want a more serious story, don’t like grand opera, or need to go to the bathroom frequently.

Remote, Quaint

See it if anything at the Met Opera with its grand scale and world-class musicians is sufficiently satisfying.

Don't see it if you expect a theatrical event a cut above at The Met, ie particularly innovative or compelling. Read more

Slow, Great staging, Great singing

See it if You want to see a more theatrical opera.

Don't see it if You would like to see more classical opera singing. It's also a little slow at parts.

Critic Reviews (2)

"At 25, the show is looking a bit scuffed. But the action is clear — and, as ever, the lullaby Anne sings to Tom in the madhouse near the end rends the heart, a benediction over a troubled man and a troubled world."
Read more

"The production ... puts Stravinsky’s (and Auden’s) modernism into visual form, using simplicity, clarity, and proportion to set the basic tableaux of the countryside, London, Tom’s apartment, and Bedlam. The touches of interwar British modern art and design color the stage with depth. This revival will always be welcome."
Read more

Trailer

Creative team

The Metropolitan Opera House