This ‘Lucia’ hits where we live

Donizetti’s heroine struggles in a toxic small town in striking L.A. Opera opener.

“Agency” is the necessary word that always comes up with “Lucia di Lammermoor,” which opened Los Angeles Opera’s new season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday night. This time in a startling new production updated to the present-day disenfranchised Rust Belt America.

There has never been the slightest doubt about whose side we are on in the nearly two centuries since Donizetti’s most popular opera,

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 S. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sept. 28; 2 p.m. Oct. 2 and 9. (Liv Redpath is Lucia Sept. 28-Oct. 9)

Tickets: $20-$324 Info: (213) 972-8001 or laopera.org Running time: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Jason Armond Los Angeles Times A VIDEO SCREEN punctuates the performances of Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Edgardo and Amanda Woodbury in the title role of “Lucia di Lammermoor.”