Idomeneo: The Story of Abraham With a Twist?

Attending Mozart's "Idomeneo" at the Met the other night got me thinking -- and I'm certainly not the first to have made this connection -- of the Biblical story of Abraham.

In both cases, a god requires a mortal to kill his first-born or at least most important son. That's perhaps the most difficult order a father could receive, in a patriarchal society at any rate.

The Met: Elza van den Heever's Mad Scene Steals the Show

When one thinks of operatic mad scenes, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor almost inevitably comes to mind first and foremost and not without reason. That, of course, is in the opera of the same name.

But last night at the Metropolitan Opera, South African-born soprano Elza van den Heever stole the show in Mozart's Idomeneo with a riveting performance of Elettra's meltdown when her long-shot hopes of marrying Prince Idamante are finally dashed by Neptune, god of the sea.

Van den Heever's performance was not only vocally splendid, her acting was captivating.