symphonic

Flavorful street food sizzles on every corner, rickshaws and scooters blare their horns in symphonic competition, and cats and dogs thread between your legs as pedestrians shuffle shoulder to shoulder.

And the arena-rock mood that kicks off “Hasta Que Me Duermo” becomes downright symphonic when Aguilar belts out the massive chorus about obsessive heartbreak — a moment that can best be described as progressive ranchera.

After they graduated, Richard had ambitions of becoming a symphonic composer and his brother had designs on writing the great American novel.

Twenty years ago, when Gelb was hired, the company’s chorus was widely regarded as a little unfocused, a little loud-and-louder — not quite on the level of the orchestra, which James Levine, the longtime artistic director, had made as flexible and nuanced as the great symphonic ensembles.

The gorgeous costumes, the vivid interiors and lush floral arrangements, the towers of sweets and symphonic renditions of pop songs, all melt into the ultimate in unchallenging small-screen escapism.