Heidi Waleson

Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” is a ghost story, but the new production that opened on Monday at the Metropolitan Opera is deadly, and not in a good way.

It’s a high-wire act, and Mr. McVicar’s rollicking direction, with every section of every aria staged with a new idea (a medal ceremony, golf practice, TV cameras…), keeps the energy and comedy level high.

The show was luxuriously cast, from the title roles to the smallest cameos, so the drama of the disabled beggar Porgy and the drug-addicted Bess, whom he tries to rescue, grew out of this community context.