Staging Belcanto Operas in the Twenty-First Century

The chapter discusses some general trends in the staging of so-called belcanto operas in the twenty-first century. It focuses in particular on the differences between mises en scène of Rossini's operas, both comic and serius, and those of works by Bellini and Donizetti, with the former staged mostly in a way that distances them from the audience, while for the latter a rapprochement between stage and public is sought by directors with widely different aesthetics and practices. The chapter concludes with some reflections on recent stagings of Bellini's _La sonnambula_, which works as a useful case study.