That's right, I forgot: Heaven forbid an opera about an abusive murderous serial rapist be too dark. When Nuphy told me about his complaint, I thought at first he was talking about the lighting or something. (That was a real issue with Lyric's recent "Eurotrash Macbeth".) I guess he's too used to directors who basically ignore the libretto and instead design around the playfulness of Mozart's score--which is a legitimate approach, to be sure, but not IMHO the most interesting one.

I'm quite sensitive to the point about class differences, but I happen to think he's dead wrong. Masetto and Zerlina are portrayed as a working-class couple who are, respectively, intimidated and dazzled by a rich and powerful man. All in all, making him the owner of a strip club is a stroke of genius. As one of the choristers on the bus asked me, "It really brings out the sleaze, doesn't it?"