By ANNE MIDGETTE [NY Times, 20 March 2006]

At this point, the Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's "Forza del Destino," now in the final week of its run, is like a piñata: everyone has taken a swing at it. And while the conventional wisdom about each individual performer has covered the entire spectrum of opinion, the aggregate has shaded toward "disastrous." So it seemed reasonable, on Saturday night, to brace for a train wreck.