Those possibly eternal opposites, East and West, have met again in The First Emperor, a visually spectacular, often engaging, and not entirely successful opera by Tan Dun. 　　

 

This new work by the winner of an Academy Award and a Grammy for his "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" film score is one of the hottest tickets this season at New York's Metropolitan Opera, which commissioned the piece a decade ago. Although a few seats were available for last Thursday's opening night, the eight remaining performances (between Dec. 26 and Jan. 25) have been listed as sold out since well before the premiere. Any new opera that can draw crowds has to be considered good news.

 

The fuss is understandable. In addition to boasting music by a Chinese-born, New York-based composer whose appeal crosses all sorts of boundaries, The First Emperor has one of the biggest opera stars in the business at the head of the cast. Placido Domingo sings the title role of Qin Shi Huang, the man who built the Great Wall and thought he could unify China for "a thousand generations." (This is the 124th new undertaking of Domingo's seemingly inexhaustible career). 　　

 

The production team boasts another Academy Award-winner, costume designer Emi Wada (she picked up her Oscar for "Ran"), and a film director, Zhang Yimou, who has his own impressive honors. 　

So there's no missing the "major event" status of this venture. And for several minutes into the first performance, it seemed as if a "major opera" had arrived, so striking were the sounds that greeted the ear, the sights that greeted the eye. By the end of the evening, though, nearly three and a half hours later, something of the magic had worn off. Perhaps it was just a case of suffering in translation.