Performer: Christopher Allen

A visually captivating and lyrically authentic production by Doug Scholz-Carlson for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

Stripped of melodramatic excess, soprano Patricia Racette and director James Darrah craft a portrait of a desperate, lonely woman that is uncomfortably, thrillingly human.

Chaotic staging detracts from imaginative pairing of Poulenc's songs with his one-act, one-performer opera.