Decadence personified: Don Giovanni’s heavies and their pole dancer.

Don Giovanni tells a story of lust, jealousy and unbridled passion.

Starting out with a murder, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s famous opera rushes on the wings of unstoppable melodies to its inevitable conclusion.

The Manoel Theatre’s daring new production brings together an even pairing of young singers from Malta and abroad, directed by Jack Furness, who was also the director of Le Nozze di Figaro last year and will handle Così fan tutte next year.

Musical direction is by Philip Walsh.

Just as William Shakespeare’s plays have abandoned the ‘men in tights’ paradigm, opera today is exploring new avenues to present something new and interesting to audiences with possibly jaded palates.

Donna Elvira (Claire Debono) and Leporello (Pauls Putnins) read the list of Don Giovanni’s amorous conquests.

The Manoel’s artistic director, Kenneth Zammit Tabona, said it was always his intention to stage the three amazing Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte operas with the same team in a homogenous trilogy.

Mr Furness’s Don Giovanni is a gangster in a film noir set in a hybrid of the steamy side of New York City, verging on Gotham.

The opera is scheduled for March 5, 7, 9 and 11 with performances, subtitled in English and Maltese, starting at 7.30pm.

Don Giovanni is part of the Manoel’s Opera Week, including concerts by pianist Vassilis Varvaresos, flautist Rebecca Hall with pianist Lucia Micallef Hunt (both at the Manoel) and soprano Miriam Gauci with the Goldberg Ensemble, under the direction of Michael Laus, at St Augustine’s church, Valletta.

Leporello (Pauls Putnins)

Don Giovanni (Christian Bowers) moves in on Zerlina (Nicola Said).

Don Giovanni (Christian Bowers) and Donna Elvira (Claire Debono)