If you’re a Baroque opera nut – or even if you’re not – do not miss this David McVicar staging of Handel’s “Agrippina,” from the Metropolitan Opera. I don’t always enjoy updated productions, but this one is a hoot. Joyce DiDonato may be the star – and she’s magnificent in the title role, as the conniving wife of the Roman emperor Claudius – but it is Kate Lindsey who steals the show as a young punk Nero, who, during one breathless number, cuts cocaine with a credit card, and literally winds up giving everyone the finger as he struts to the throne. It may not sound like your kind of thing, but believe me, it is! DO NOT MISS IT. Free streaming begins tonight at 6:00 EDT and continues for 24 hours at metopera.org.
Just a 60-second sample of Kate Lindsey as Nero (but for the full effect, you really need to see her shake out the big bag of coke!):