About the Show

A modern opera adaptation of the classic 2002 film about three women finding themselves across eras.

Kevin Puts’ The Hours is adapted from Michael Cunningham’s celebrated novel of the same name, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and later turned into a household name through its Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation. The timeless story follows three women from different time periods who each wrestle with their inner saboteurs and their places in their respective society.

Renée Fleming makes her long awaited return to the Met in this world-premiere production, joined by Kelli O’Hara and Joyce DiDonato.

Critic Reviews (10)

" 'The Hours' is soul-stirring and a message about how time heals nothing and no one."
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"Whirls of transparent, colorful, scintillating music, both choral and orchestral"
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For a previous production

"Every scene in the opera eventually gets to the same place musically and dramatically, whipped into soaring emotion. The tear-jerking gets tiring."
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For a previous production

" Far from being a spinoff of a spinoff, Kevin Puts’s The Hours mixes musical freshness and venerable traditions in a fine and moving music drama."
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For a previous production

"Most of the opera’s action scenes revolve around Clarissa, and their lack of musical momentum reveals the opera’s principal flaw: It has well-crafted episodes and deft, imaginative transitions, but the story arc is carried by the libretto rather than the music."
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For a previous production

"At the end of “The Hours,” you will find yourself energized by Puts’s splendid shape-shifting score, or the triple threat of its leads, or the richness of this multilayered narrative."
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For a previous production

" 'The Hours is by no means an evening of light entertainment...if you can make it to the end, you hear a remarkable trio, when the three women finally come together in a musical room of their own. Sorrow has never sounded more beautiful."
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For a previous production

"The new opera 'The Hours' is wonderful in the most old-fashioned kind of way. Not only has it been written for a diva, the show is about a diva – and in this case, three of them."
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Trailer

Creative team

The Metropolitan Opera House