Mozart's 'Abduction' starring Diana Damrau sparkles at Met

Two lovers who are separated by fate but remain true to one another. Show-stopping arias filled with coloratura ornamentation. Plenty of high notes. Lots of slapstick comedy. And, of course, a happy ending.

All that was on display Saturday not once but twice at the Metropolitan Opera.

First the matinee audience was treated to Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez in the much-ballyhooed new production of Donizetti's ''La Fille du Regiment,'' a performance that was witnessed by thousands more in movie theaters across the world. (Though they did not get to hear Florez encore his nine-high-Cs aria as he had on opening night.)

A few hours later, in contrast, Mozart's ''Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail'' (''The Abduction from the Seraglio'') slipped in almost under the radar, opening in a revival of a 29-year-old production that's getting just four performances in the closing weeks of the season.

While it may lack some of the glitz and glamour of the Donizetti, ''Abduction'' has plenty to recommend it, starting with a cast of five sterling principals led by German soprano Diana Damrau.

Damrau has been a rising star at the Met since her 2005 debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss' ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' — coincidentally, the role in which Dessay made her mark in the house in 1997.

As the heroine, Konstanze, Damrau spends much of the opera in a state of morbid grief over having been abducted from her sweetheart, Belmonte, and sold into the harem of the Turkish Pasha Selim. True to the part, she suppressed much of the natural charm and bubbly personality that make her such a lively stage presence.

But she came into her own in Act 2, when Mozart calls on Konstanze to hold center stage for 17 minutes of almost uninterrupted singing, culminating in an aria of defiance, ''Martern aller Arten,'' in which she tells the pasha that no amount of torture will make her love him. That aria can be a kind of torture of its own for soprano and audience, filled as it is with rapid-fire runs and stratospheric high notes.

Damrau brought it off with panache and was rewarded with the evening's biggest ovation. It was her third Mozart role at the Met this season, following her rare feat of singing both Pamina and the Queen of the Night in different performances of ''Die Zauberfloete.''

As Belmonte, who shows up at the harem to rescue his beloved, American tenor Matthew Polenzani displayed the sweet, unforced sound that has made him one of the Met's most promising young performers. Particularly admirable was his ability to modulate from loud to soft while maintaining remarkable breath control.

Hero and heroine were ably supported by tenor Steve Davislim, a native of Malaysia making his Met debut as Belmonte's servant, Pedrillo, and by Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak as Konstanze's wily maid, Blondchen.

Mozart gave the best comic business to the bass who sings the role of Osmin, the pasha's bloodthirsty overseer. Kristinn Sigmundsson, a native of Iceland, brought tremendous charm and enthusiasm to the role, cracking his whip with gusto as he pranced about. His booming voice filled out the part admirably, even if he couldn't quite summon all of the incredibly low notes Mozart calls for.

One of the evening's pleasant surprises was how well Jocelyn Herbert's colorful sets, combining cardboard cutouts with delicately painted backdrops, are holding up nearly 30 years after the John Dexter production was new.

Conductor David Robertson made a welcome return to the Met 12 years after his debut, giving a light and lyrical reading of the score, which combines some of Mozart's most tuneful and exuberant melodies with his unique brand of mock-Orientalism.

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