Performer: Ella Marchment

Erlanger's fractured and clichéd opera isn't helped by confused direction, although soprano Andreea Soare is nothing short of magnificent as the heroine. 

Composer-librettist Adamo does full justice to Louisa May Alcott's 19th-century bestseller, one of the most widely read works in American literature.

As the Governess Alison Rose was the ideal suffering soprano, her eyes an imbroglio of psychological disturbances.