Washington National Opera's 'Hamlet' done in Cold War style

If you haven’t seen the Washington National Opera’s production of “Hamlet” at the Kennedy Center yet, you might not understand how anyone could dream of setting Ambroise Thomas’ 1868 opera in “Denmark, fallen behind the Iron Curtain.”

But director/designer Thaddeus Strassberger had a clear vision for this “Hamlet,” and the result is an outstanding production, in which Thomas’ lush, Romantic music complements Strassberger’s 20th-century setting and vice versa.