William Wegman Makes the Met’s ‘Macbeth’ a Real Dog

Okay, so Aida features live elephants, horses prance through Carmen, and a pair of lanky Russian wolfhounds recently made their Metropolitan Opera debut in Lucia di Lammermoor. But why is a Macbeth with such a hangdog look hanging from the Met’s grand arcade? Has director Adrian Noble decided to dispense with singers altogether for his new production of the Verdi opera? (You can just imagine him declaring: “If this show is going to be a dog, let it be with intention.�) No, human soprano Maria Guleghina and baritone Zeljko Lucic will be offing old Duncan themselves. The crown-bearing canine in the banner comes from a series of opera-themed photographs by the Weimaraner-obsessed William Wegman. What does the dog have to do with the show? Nothing really, but it attracts attention (such as this post) to the opera, which opens tonight. It also doubles as an ad for the images themselves, which are, of course, for sale by the Met. —Justin Davidson