(Photo: Tanja Niemann)
BY JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 19 March 2007]

In the middle of the 1920s, Richard Strauss composed "The Egyptian Helen," along with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, his trusty librettist. In 1928, this work had a staging at the Metropolitan Opera, with the glamorous Maria Jeritza in the title role. She appeared on the cover of Time magazine. From 1928 till last Thursday night, the opera was not heard at the Met. And when it came back, we had Deborah Voigt singing Helen, in a production by the Englishman David Fielding.