Tickets for Saturday, Nov 18, are still for sale at Arsht Center until 8:00pm.

Miami performances are at the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

Fort Lauderdale performances are at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.

Children must be at least six years old to attend.

FEATURED ON-SITE DINING

Lucia di Lammermoor

Tickets for Thursday, Nov 30, are still for sale at Broward Center until 7:30pm.

GAETANO DONIZETTI

A young bride loses it on her wedding night.

Lucia di Lammermoor is an acting and musical tour de force—one of the acid tests of what a great soprano is all about. Lucia is the unlucky Scottish girl who becomes a pawn in her family’s plot to revive its fortunes, is forced into a marriage against her will and butchers her bridegroom on their wedding night. The role has been sung by some of the great sopranos of our time. Now, Anna Christy, acclaimed star at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, brings her brilliant interpretation to South Florida audiences. Experience this haunting, atmospheric opera, complete with crumbling castles and ghostly apparitions, plus a breathtaking mad scene that will have you pinned to your seat. Come see why audiences continue to flock to this timeless—and bloody—romantic classic.

SYNOPSIS

The Lammermoor hills of Scotland, late 17th century

Act I

A strange man has been spotted on the grounds of the Ashton family's estate, and Normanno, the captain of the guard, is determined to find out who it is. Enrico Ashton, the head of the family, worries that the stranger may be Edgardo Ravenswood, whose estates Enrico has wrongfully taken over. Enrico's plotting against the king has also placed him in a vulnerable position, but he is resolved to turn matters around by marrying off his sister Lucia to the wealthy Lord Arturo Bucklaw, boosting the family fortune. He is upset, however, that Lucia resists the idea. The Calvinist chaplain, Raimondo, reminds Enrico that Lucia is mourning the death of her mother. Normanno voices his suspicions that Lucia has a secret lover. Enrico's men come back from their search and report that Edgardo has indeed been spotted on the estate.

At dawn, Lucia and her companion Alisa approach a ruin in Ravenswood Castle Park. The fountain has a legend: a Ravenswood ancestor murdered his mistress there, and her ghost still walks at night. Lucia tells Alisa that she has seen the ghost, and Alisa warns her that it is an evil omen. The atmosphere of gloom is lifted when Edgardo arrives to tell Lucia that a diplomatic matter sends him to France. He wants to ask for Lucia's hand, but she, fearing what her brother will do, tells him the time is not yet right. They exchange rings and vow fidelity.

Act II

Normanno informs Enrico that the letters Edgardo has written to Lucia have been intercepted and a new letter forged stating he will marry another woman. Lucia still refuses to consent to the marriage with Arturo, but she is shocked when Enrico presents her with the forged letter. Enrico berates her, reminding her of her responsibilities. Raimondo gently urges her to marry Arturo and shore up the family's fortunes. Finally, Lucia, feeling that she has no choice, agrees.

On the wedding day, in the Great Hall of Ravenswood Castle, the guests pay tribute to the bridegroom, Arturo. Lucia arrives, melancholy and distraught, but she submits to signing the marriage contract. No sooner has she done so when Edgardo bursts into the room. When he thrusts the document in front her her, he angrily demands "Rispondi!"—and she admits that the signature is hers. Edgardo throws her ring away and tells her to return his, cursing the day that he met her. As he storms out, Lucia collapses in despair.

Act III

Arturo and Lucia have retired to the bridal chamber; the wedding celebration is at its peak. Suddenly, Raimondo enters the Great Hall, visibly shaken. He says that he heard horrifying sounds coming from the bridal chamber; when he investigated, he found Arturo dead, drenched in his own blood, Lucia with a death grip on the dagger she used to kill him. Lucia, whose mind has snapped, staggers into the room. Still holding the dagger, she wanders among the guests, alternately imagining herself with Edgardo and at the haunted fountain with "il phantasma." At one point, seeing the candles, she thinks that she is presiding over her wedding to Edgardo. Enrico, who has gone off to challenge Edgardo to a duel, returns and is overcome with guilt at what his actions have wrought. Lucia recalls Edgardo's curse, asks him to pray for her after she is dead, then collapses onto the floor.

Edgardo waits to face off against Enrico among the tombs of the Ravenswoods. He knows nothing of the tragedy that has struck the Castle, and laments that he does not with to live without Lucia. Some of the wedding guests approach and tell him what has happened. He longs to see her one more time. Just then he hears the tolling of the funeral bell. Raimondo comes to tell him that Lucia is dead. Edgardo predicts that they will be reunited in heaven and stabs himself as her funeral procession passes by.

—Brian Kellow