Don’t head to the Arena di Verona Opera Festival for the opera. Instead, go for the “opera.”Why the quote marks? A trip to the largest outdoor lyric theatre in the world is, in many ways, like a trip back in time, and not just because the venue itself was built in AD 30.The style of production there is also often from a previous era, and frequently in the most entertaining ways. You don’t always get to see opera — the uniting of dramatic, lyric and scenographic arts in a higher whole — but instead “opera,” meaning a huge spectacle and lavish entertainment delivered with delightfully old-fashioned gusto.Audiences often chat, or take photos during the shows. And I’ve been in the arena when the tenor, pleased with the applause for his “La donna è mobile,” immediately encored the whole aria, complete with exactly the same wooden hand gestures he’d just used. Any sense of character or dramatic truth flew out the window, leaving us with ego-fuelled absurdity.I loved it.The festival as a whole may be wonderfully over the top, but the singers are seriously top drawer, or from the drawer immediately below it of solid international dependables. Money-names this year include the fabulous Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili (singing Amneris and Carmen), baritones Carlos Álvarez and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo (in a double-cast Don Giovanni), and the authoritative Ambrogio Maestri (as Nabucco and Scarpia). Some productions are quadruple-cast, so it’s best to check the listings if you’re keen to hear a particular performer.There’s plenty to enjoy apart from the stagings. Productions don’t start until sundown, and at the moment of darkness, members of the audience usually light little candles. It’s an unforgettably magical sight.You can come early to soak up the atmosphere, and picnic on the stone steps before the show too. (Unreserved seats on the steps start at just €15 — a real bargain.)There are six major stagings this year — all revivals — and two gala evenings. High on the list of attractions is the return of Franco Zeffirelli’s mega-plus-size production of “Aida” (June 20-September 6).For its centenary two years ago, the festival hired the conceptual theatre company La Fura dels Baus to make a modern revisionist staging — all space-suits and metal cranes — of Verdi’s masterpiece. It went down like a wet mattress, and so Zeffirelli’s much-loved lavish staging has been hauled back out of storage.The same director’s 2012 lively period-costume staging of “Don Giovanni” also makes a welcome return (July 4-August 12). It was a brave move to stage such an intimate opera in such a huge venue, but the remarkable acoustics of the arena ensure that it works beautifully.On a much larger scale is Verdi’s “Nabucco” with one of the largest casts the venue can assemble (June 19-September 5). The popular 1991 production is by Gianfranco de Bosio.There are two cast-iron productions from the Argentinian director Hugo de Ana: his 2006 staging of “Tosca” (June 26-August 14) and his pretty 2007 “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (The Barber of Seville, August 1-September 4) which transforms the stage into a fantastical rose garden.There’s a dance gala with the superstar dancer Roberto Bolle on July 22, and a “Carmen Gala Concert” — with the unmissable Anita Rachvelishvili — on July 24.The most experimental staging is Francesco Micheli’s 2010 “Roméo et Juliette” (August 8-September 3). Using a mix of medieval costumes, leather biker gear, and drag, he sets the action among a constantly-changing structure of metal scaffolding: it’s camp and a lot of fun.And if Gounod is spinning in his grave, the thrill of seeing the world’s favorite star-cross’d lovers in their home city will probably compensate for his whirring.The Arena Opera Festival Runs June 19-September 6.
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