LA GIOCONDA NO MET

Things were supposed to quiet down at the Metropolitan Opera after the multimedia season opener for “Madama Butterfly” on Monday, but the Met was just as busy a day later with “La Gioconda.”
Ponchielli’s four-act extravaganza is no place for the faint of heart. The house has not put it on in 16 years, perhaps with an eye to giving patrons time to rest up. Beni Montresor’s sets and costumes must have moldered in storage. Both have been spruced up to give 17th-century Venice and Venetians an appropriately upscale look.