Written by
Georges Bizet

Directed by
Penny Woolcock

METROPOLITAN OPERA
December 31, 2015

Choreographed by
Andy Dawson

Scenery by
Dick Bird

Costume Design by
Kevin Pollard

Projections by
59 Productions

“When word gets around, the sleeper hit of the Metropolitan Opera season could be the new production of Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” (“The Pearl Fishers”) that opened on Thursday night, a New Year’s Eve gala event. “

New York Times

“In a bold stroke, Ms. Woolcock, who made her Met debut in 2008 directing John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic,” opens this production by bringing the title of the opera to life with theatrical magic that transforms the stage into a murky expanse beneath the sea. Behind a scrim with video projections (by 59 Productions) and lighting effects (by Jen Schriever), three actors dangling from unseen wires (costumed by Kevin Pollard as traditional pearl fishers), swim and dart about in the waters searching for oysters in the sea bed.”

The New York Times

“After a breathtaking opening sequence of pearl divers in the watery depths, the curtain rises on a bleak coastal village, where a weather-beaten billboard—advertising jewelry with the tagline “Inspiration from the Deep”—looms over tin-and-cardboard huts.”

The New Yorker