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This is both rare and well-done: a sadly neglected grand opera, as spectacular in its own way as Aida or Turandot, in a production that is not likely to be surpassed in the foreseeable future. Meyerbeer's L'Africaine is remembered today almost exclusively for a single aria that Enrico Caruso recorded in Italian, "O Paradiso," sung by Placido Domingo in the original French in this production. It also offers an intensely tangled plot, exotic dancing, pagan rituals, a dizzying storm at sea and shipwreck, and a wealth of flowing melody. The story is a fictionalized treatment of the adventures of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (Domingo), with a love triangle involving Selika, queen of Madagascar (Shirley Verrett), and a Portuguese noblewoman, Ines (Ruth Ann Swenson). The whole cast is strong; Domingo is excellent, and Verrett often dominates the screen. --Joe McLellan
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