"What is this? Constructivist staging or what?" cried New York Times Critic Olin Downes. The Herald Tribune's Virgil Thomson was equally dyspeptic; his evening at the Metropolitan Opera House reminded him of "the French chef who in serving a New England boiled dinner had carved the beets like roses and turned turnips into lilies . . ." The critics' ire and ulcers were aroused last week by the Met's new streamlined production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, the wonderful old pair of operatic favorites.
For his overhaul job, General Manager Rudolf Bing had turned to the Met's own staff of...
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