Met's New 'Hamlet': To Be Or Not to Be True to the Text

This image released by the Metropolitan Opera shows Brenda Rae as Ophelia, left, and Allan Clayton as Hamlet in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Matthew Jocelyn and Brett Dean's adaptation of Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" on May 4, 2022 in New York. (Karen Almond/Metropolitan Opera via AP)

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By Associated Press

May 11, 2022 at 9:54 AM EDT

New York (AP) -- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, all right, but not as Shakespeare imagined. No Norwegian prince arrives to seize the Danish throne. And to be or not to be is not the question.

So it goes in the latest operatic adaptation of the most famous play in the English language. “Hamlet,” with music by Brett Dean and libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, opens at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday, the final new production in the company’s comeback-from-COVID season.

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