Trouble in Tahiti: This ironic masterpiece concerns a typical suburban American couple who can’t get along with each other and can’t figure out why their life isn’t as perfect as what they see in the movies and commercials all around them. Bernstein (West Side Story, Candide) mixed popular and classical music with comedy and tragedy to create a heartfelt expression of anger, frustration, and yearning. Arguably the greatest American opera yet composed.

Rita: This startlingly modern take on marriage features the delightful music of Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Pasquale.) The farce concerns Rita, a lady innkeeper with two husbands—neither of whom want her! A charming, rarely performed comic opera in the tradition of The Barber of Seville, and The Elixir of Love.