I attended the dress rehearsal on September 25, 2019. I do not understand the decision to portray Ping, Pang and Pong as three effeminate men who prance, jump and cavort over the stage, alternately giggling, mincing, patting one another or sleeping head on shoulder. Actually, I do understand the decision and it saddens me. These characters are made to "act gay" for comic relief. I could understand if one of the ministers was portrayed ironically as stereotypically gay (in the manner of 1970's television caricatures), but really, all three? The voice of the princess was enthralling. I could have happily listened to her sing for hours. Except while she sang, the ministers continued to distract, irritatingly. My friend and I left before the second act concluded. Would I recommend this opera for a friend planning a great night in Toronto? No. Putting aside the objectionable portrayal of the ministers, this production runs to three hours with three minutes of plot. Bring a book.

This is an opera with magnificent music. As performed by the COC, both the singers (I saw it on Oct. 25) and the orchestra were superb. I was very put off by the sparse, modernistic production by Robert Wilson, which I found pretentious and detracting from the beauty and power of the music. Turandot should be like a Monet, and Wilson painted it like a Frantz Kline. Besides my dislike of the sets and the costumes, it was absolutely ridiculous to have the characters always facing towards the audience, never interacting with each other. Wilson seems to want us to be impressed by his "genius," but I had attended to be impressed by the true genius of Puccini.