ROCKLAND — The Strand Theatre’s 2022-23 season of Metropolitan Opera simulcasts from New York City continues on Saturday, April 1, at 12:30 p.m., with Verdi’s Falstaff. An encore will be presented on Tuesday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. 

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy. The opera is set in and around the town of Windsor, west of London, in the first decades of the 15th century. The current Met production places the action in mid-20th century England, after the Second World War—an era when long-established social norms were rapidly changing and the aristocracy lost much of their wealth and influence.

Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium on April 1 to oversee an ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park, Ailyn Peěrez, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

This series is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.                                                               

Estimated running time is 3 hours, including one intermission.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.RocklandStrand.com; by calling the box office at (207) 594-0070; or at the walk-up box office when the theater is open for scheduled shows, as well as one hour prior to each opera showtime.Ticket prices for the live broadcasts are $27/Adults, $25/Strand Members, and $15/Students.

Tickets for encore presentations are $23/Adults, $15/Strand Members, and $5/Students. 100 tickets are available for each show, and will be sold as reserved seats. Masks are recommended for Covid safety but not required, except in the balcony.

The Strand Theatre is located at 345 Main Street, Rockland.