While the action still unfolds in a village in Spain, Falls has set the story in the 1920s (and it is probably not a coincidence that this was the time of the sexual reform movement in Spain). He has gathered a team of outstanding designers with whom he has long collaborated, and conductor James Gaffigan and the Lyric Orchestra supply superb support for the singers (even if the uneven performance of the Overture left me wishing for Maestro Muti and the CSO). The production, directed by Robert Falls (artistic director of the Goodman Theatre) is the finest work he has done on any stage since “The Iceman Cometh,” and it has been cast with glorious singers who also are exceptional actors (and ideal in form and figure for their roles). The principal difference is that the offending men of the 21st century do not have a genius like Mozart or the skill of his Italian librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, who drew on the legends of Don Juan (and whose own biography is absolutely fascinating), to immortalize them in any way, and to transform their exploits and punishments into a tragicomic morality tale with music of great beauty and emotional range.

In fact, the similarities between Giovanni, the wealthy nobleman who is a compulsive (and at times violent) seducer, and the likes of today’s most notorious scoundrels (from Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein to countless others), are instantly apparent.

Lyric opera chicago don giovanni