In her final victory performance, singing Leonard Cohen's world-weary anthem 'Hallelujah', she broke down once again, only to recover for a rousing finish.
In 1928 he had captured London's heart with a sell-out performance singing Ol' Man River in the barnstorming, barrier-breaking musical Show Boat.
But Mr. Phillips came back strong with his last performance, singing Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight" in a way that imputed a tender loneliness and sexual longing to the song's narrator.
The 74-year-old Ms. Andrews — whose voice was damaged in 1997 by surgery to remove throat polyps — mostly spoke during the performance, singing occasionally when accompanied by other vocalists and, in one case, the enthusiastic audience.
Ms. Skuce gave a splendid performance, singing with warm, rich tone and endless agility, though her ardent portrayal was sometimes undercut by the inanely randy carryings-on that came with the staging.
Ms. Netrebko's performance on Monday night, her first Lucia at the Met, takes the same components of a performance — singing, stage presence, charisma, confidence — and mixes them differently, with uneven results.
