Performer: Kenneth Overton

Whenever a relative opera novice or occasional toe-dipper tells me how he or she cried at the end of La bohème, I want to send them to La fanciulla del West. Of course I choke up at the end of Bohème – who doesn't? – but for a good bawling session, the fabulously maudlin finale of Fanciulla is the place to be. The plot doesn't bode well.

The Opéra de Montréal's production of Porgy and Bess is both an artistic success and a reaffirmation of the work's importance.