TOP-NOTCH OPERA. Even if you're not a fan of opera, consider snagging tickets to the marvelous Italian version of Sleeping Beauty playing near Lincoln Center through Saturday. Featuring beautiful music, entrancing staging, and the inventiveness of puppeteer Basil Twist (Symphonie Fantastique), La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco offers a lovely fusion of music, fantasy, and theater.

This is another outstanding production from the red-hot Gotham Chamber Opera [see February 15, 2005]. The music is by Ottorino Respighi, best known for his popular symphonic works The Pines of Rome and The Fountains of Rome. La Bella Dormente is hardly as well-known, but after this production I wouldn't be surprised if it catches on fast.

Tickets ($60 each) seem to be going quickly. They can be purchased online, at Avery Fisher Hall, or over the phone at 212-721-6500. Note that the performances are not at Lincoln Center but at the John Jay School, at Tenth Avenue near 59th Street.

Next up for the Gotham Chamber Opera: Benjamin Britten's comic opera Albert Herring in February 2006.