of this production, Schicchi was sung by Thomas Allen, while Gwynne Howell, as Simone, celebrated 40 years with the Royal Opera. In a 2023 San Diego Opera production, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe made operatic history when she performed the baritone role of the title character, Gianni. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, no other woman opera singer in the world has sung a baritone role in a professional production. Critical reception In reviewing the New York premiere, the critics greeted warmly; most reviewers found it to be the best of the three operas. New York Herald Tribune critic Henry Krehbiel described it as "so uproariously funny ... so full of life, humor, and ingenious devices". The New York Times reviewer James Huneker considered the opera to be "a rollicking, madcap scherzo, overflowing with merry deviltries ... And the last shall be first." Huneker praised De Luca as "a most engaging rascal, fit for a minor niche in Moliere's gallery". The Times critic was also amused by Marto Malatesta as "The 'Kid' Gherardino, who is spanked by the irate family". Rome's critics gave as a whole a warmer reception but still saw as the best of the three. Alberto Gasco of noted that, "In terms of harmonic technique, and advance quite startling elements of novelty. Nothing that contemporary art has produced escapes the studious and astute Giacomo Puccini." Gasco also stated that while many critics were waiting for the first two operas with their fists drawn, disarmed these "hired assassins" with a "single glance". An anonymous reviewer in felt that the three works comprised a unified whole, but feared that Puccini was becoming less inventive. was a nationalist newspaper, and praised Puccini for returning to an Italian subject "after so many useless Japanese, American, Parisian digressions". Modern productions, including those in an updated context, have been generally well received. Describing the 2004 Glyndebourne pairing with The Miserly Knight as "flip sides of the same coin", reviewer Edward Seckerson in The Independent found the performance "a triumph of ensemble directing and playing, ... wickedly observed, sharp, focussed and funny". The New York Times gave a positive review to the Woody Allen 2008 production, which is set in a crowded tenement in which the boy Gherardino is practising knife thrusts. However, the critic questioned Allen's altered ending, in which Schicchi is stabbed by Zita as he addresses the audience. Los Angeles Times critic