Britten's popular opera – which includes the oft-performed "Sea Interludes" – is described as "a probing exploration of the nature of guilt and judgment, featuring an intriguing outsider trapped within a closed society."

The Peter Grimes cast features Anthony Dean Griffey in the title role with Patricia Racette, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Felicity Palmer, Jill Grove, Leah Partridge, Erin Morley, Greg Fedderly, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, John Del Carlo and Dean Peterson. Griffey, who takes on the tragically flawed central character, appeared in Doyle's Los Angeles staging of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Also making their Met debuts with Britten's Peter Grimes are Tony Award-winning set designer Scott Pask (The Coast of Utopia) and Tony-winning costume designer Ann Hould-Ward (Company, 2006 revival). Peter Grimes features lighting design by Peter Mumford and will be conducted by Donald Runnicles.

"Peter Grimes is about judgment for me," Doyle previously stated. "It's a highly theatrical piece. But equally, it is a piece that could happen. And it does happen every day… The set design is based upon the net huts in Hastings, where I live. We've created a series of walls made up of the imagery of those net huts. And these walls do, in the course of the evening, close in, so you do get a sense of him being completely trapped."

John Doyle directed the recent Broadway revivals of Sweeney Todd and Company, both of which incorporated the concept of utilizing actors as the musicians. Doyle will be represented on Broadway this spring with the John Bucchino and Harvey Fierstein musical A Catered Affair. Peter Grimes will be broadcast throughout movie theatres and homes nationwide later this season as part of "Metropolitan Opera: Live in High Definition." The production will also be broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio as well as on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

Peter Grimes plays the Met through March 24. For tickets visit www.metopera.org.