This summer, in three performances, Lincoln Center in New York presented something rarer than Halley’s Comet: The Peony Pavilion, the classic Chinese opera written at the end of the sixteenth century by Tang Xianzu (who died in 1616, the same year as William Shakespeare). Part of the rarity of the opera is due to its length: When staged in entirety, Peony takes nearly twenty hours to perform, and the new production at Lincoln Center required attendance over three consecutive days.

But — like staying up all night to see a comet — going day after day to see The Peony Pavilion repays the effort. The opera is spectacular, accessible, funny, and incredibly refined. It illuminates an entire world as its fifty-five scenes employ poetry, song, dance, acrobatics, martial arts, puppetry, and instrumental intermezzi to proclaim the primacy of love.