“When they burned my mother at the stake, I vowed revenge—so I kidnapped their son, intending to throw him into the flames! But I was so crazed with grief I threw my own son in instead!!!” “But, Mom—you mean I’m not your son???” “No, what am I saying? Of course you are!” This paraphrase does not exaggerate the loopiness of the actual dialogue explaining the actual central plot point in Verdi’s Il trovatore (“The Troubadour”)—and it’s not even the most preposterous contrivance in an opera notorious for them. (Not for nothing is it the piece destroyed in the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera.) With Rigoletto and La traviata, Trovatore forms the trilogy of hits (premiered within a two-year span) that established Verdi’s reign as the now-and-forever king of Italian opera; the crudest of the three both in its character portrayals and its music, it’s still a lot of fun, though a taste for camp and a willingness not to think too much won’t hurt. GAVIN BORCHERT [See Gavin’s review.]

Sat., Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 17, 2 p.m.; Wed., Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 24, 2 p.m.; Wed., Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m., 2010