After the show, my companion of the evening and I strolled up Broadway. Chénier still hovered about me, faintly, but he said, “Why do I keep thinking of La Cage aux Folles?” I answered: “Because—’I am what I am.'” “Of course, that’s it,” he said. And yes, at the moment of his epiphany and acceptance at the end of Fire, Charles repeats the words of Albin’s Act 1 finale number from La Cage, now an iconic proclamation of gay self-identity. I thought that was an astonishing misjudgment.

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NEXT TIME: I’ll be undertaking an assessment of the return of Die Meistersinger to the Met repertory. This is not a new production, but it has interesting new elements, and will give me an opportunity to also report on recent recordings by two of its principals, Lise Davidsen and Georg Zeppenfeld. Since the performance date is not compatible with meeting a deadline at the usual interval, I’m declaring Nov. 19 as the destined moment.

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