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On March 6, 1964, two well-known artists, neither of them a singer, made their Met debuts together in a new production of Falstaff. The designer/director, Franco Zeffirelli, had made his mark in Shakespearean staging with Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic. The conductor, Leonard Bernstein, had conducted opera only a few times, at Tanglewood (1946) and later at La Scala, but he had been a celebrity since his unscheduled New York Philharmonic debut in 1943.
When Falstaff was repeated the following month on tour, Michael Steinberg noted in The Boston Globe, "Not every moment needs the emphasis and drive Bernstein emanates, but still ... I would have to go back more than a dozen years to Fritz Reiner's Elektra to find an equal achievement in theater conducting." The magic lasted for just ten performances. Demands placed by fame and versatility on Bernstein's schedule left little room for his skills as a theater conductor ...