Love and revenge surmount cheese in ‘Fedora’

Above : Sonya Yoncheva and Piotr Beczala star in The Met: Live in HD production of “Fedora.” (Photo/Fathom Events)

If you take the basic plotline of pretty much any opera, you’re likely to encounter a story that would fit right in with your average soap opera.

Take “Fedora,” the latest The Met: Live in HD production , which will screen at 9:55 a.m. Saturday and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, at the Regal Cinemas theaters at NorthTown Mall and at Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

(A second showing will play at 1 p.m. at NorthTown.)

The basic plotline, which is based on an 1882 stage play by the French playwright Victorien Sardou, involves the title character who, looking to revenge the murder of her fiancé, ends up falling in love with his murderer – an unfortunate emotional complication that, no surprise, ends up badly.

“Fedora” was adapted in 1898 into a three-act operetta by the Italian composer Umberto Giordano (libretto by Arturo Colautti). And now director David McVicar has staged Giordano’s work at The Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 25 years.

Soprano Sonya Yoncheva plays the title role, while tenor Piotr Beczala plays the man she falls for. The Met’s Marco Armiliato conducts.

“(I)t’s a splendid verismo showcase for the right soprano – in this case, Sonya Yoncheva,” wrote reviewer Heidi Waleson for the Wall Street Journal. “David McVicar’s handsome new production offered plenty of eye candy and kept the entertainment level high without cheesy overreach.”

More “eye candy” than cheese. Sounds like a good combination.