Turandot in Bejing

Before settling down to watch tonight's highly-anticipated (non)-event, about which I may or may not have more to say tomorrow, I want to report on this gorgeous documentary experience. "The Turandot Project" chronicles Zubin Mehta and Zhang Yimou (Chinese movie director who made, among other wonderful films "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou") as they collaborate to bring Puccini to Beijing. The music is, of course, glorious, the costuming is eye-popping, the sets incredibly sumptuous and complex, the problems are legion and must be solved in a combination of English, Italian and Chinese. But they manage to pull it off.

Now let's see what Gwen Ifill et al. can pull off tonight. And they only have to speak (some form of) English.