David McVicar’s second new production of the season is this dynamic staging of Giulio Cesare, a hit at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2005, which incorporates elements of Baroque theater and 19th-century British imperialism to illuminate the opera’s themes of love, war, and empire building. “Giulio Cesare is a kaleidoscope of an opera—a semi-comic, semi-tragic adventure story. You get romance, you get drama, you get moments of political wheeling-and-dealing, complex family relationships—as well as real emotion and tragedy,” McVicar says. “It’s a miracle, and it has enabled me to express everything I feel is important about opera.” David Daniels stars as the title character, opposite Natalie Dessay in her Met role debut as the bewitching Cleopatra, Alice Coote as Sesto, Patricia Bardon as Cornelia, Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo, and Guido Loconsolo in his Met debut as Achilla.