A Different 'Norma'

A new production of Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, on a Felice Romani libretto, was unveiled at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 21 February 2016. The opening was a late afternoon performance, 5pm, quite unusual for a theatre in Southern Italy. This staging of Norma is, at the same time, quite traditional but very different from the standard fare — both dramaturgically and musically.

On the dramatic side, in the last few years we have seen the plot of Norma in most diverse times and locations...