This is the most popular opera production so far on DVD, surpassing even Franco Zeffirelli's lavish, symbol-laden La Traviata. It is an exciting Carmen, with a young-looking Placido Domingo in top form for a role he has sung hundreds of times. For Julia Migenes, it was her first performance in a role she would have trouble performing in an opera house. Her voice does not fit ...

Manufacturer: RCA/Columbia
Starring: Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi, Faith Esham, François Le Roux
Directed By: Francesco Rosi

Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Starring: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B. Warner
Directed By: Robert Z. Leonard, W.S. Van Dyke

Manufacturer: Kultur Video
Starring: Teresa Stratas, Robert Sapolsky, Giorgio Tozzi, Willard White, Nico Castel
Directed By: Arnin Brown

Manufacturer: Mca
Starring: Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Cornell MacNeil, Allan Monk, Pina Cei
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli

The first recording of Puccini's La Bohème to be issued on DVD is the best visual treatment of this opera that anyone's ever likely to see. Director Franco Zeffirelli always seems to have television in mind when he directs an opera production, and his orientation toward visual impact and acting skills comes across effectively. Teresa Stratas (Zeffirelli's soprano of choice in one ...

Manufacturer: Paramount
Starring: Richard Stilwell, Jose Carreras, James Morris, Allan Monk, Italo Tajo

Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea
Starring: Josep Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Zubin Mehta, Lalo Schifrin
Directed By: William Cosel

Manufacturer: Miramar
Starring: Jean-Marie Messier, Franco Corelli, Nicolai Gedda, Les Petits Chanteurs, Susanne Danco

Manufacturer: Polygram Video
Starring: Sting, Luciano Pavarotti, Suzanne Vega, Zucherro

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Starring: Eva Marton, Plácido Domingo, Leona Mitchell, Paul Plishka, Hugues Cuenod
Directed By: Kirk Browning

A video of a 1982 performance at Canada's Stratford Festival (live, though with some singing dubbed), this is very much a theatrical experience, with the buoyancy of a show played before an audience. The cast and spectators take obvious pleasure in each other, and in classic Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, several numbers are encored. Subtlety is not this production's strong point, but you ...

Manufacturer: CBC Home Video
Starring: Gidon Saks, Henry Ingram, Eric Donkin, Richard McMillan, Allen Stewart-Coates
Directed By: Norman Campbell