Opera’s most enduring tragic double bill returns in an evocative new production from Sir David McVicar (Giulio Cesare, Maria Stuarda, Il Trovatore), who sets the verismo action across two time periods but in the same Sicilian setting. Marcelo Álvarez rises to the challenge of playing the dual tenor roles of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci. Rae Smith (War Horse) has designed the moodily atmospheric 1900 village square setting of Cavalleria Rusticana, which transforms to a 1948 truck stop for the doomed vaudeville troupe of Pagliacci. Eva-Maria Westbroek (Cav) and Patricia Racette (Pag) play the unlucky heroines. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.