Peter Kazaras’s new production of La gazza ladra at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2016 brought a vivid and imaginative theatrical concept to Rossini’s rarely performed opera. Critics described the staging as “rousing and captivating,” noting its cohesive visual world and inventive use of avian imagery, which extended from costume to movement and culminated in the magpie itself embodied as a dancer throughout the performance. Reviewers also highlighted the production’s ability to balance the work’s comic vitality with its darker dramatic stakes, with one calling it “not playing it safe” and praising the fresh energy brought to the piece. The result was an engaging and theatrically unified interpretation that reanimated the opera’s blend of humor and moral tension.