So does the way Wilson’s characters move: they float and glide across the stage, deliberately, when they’re moving at all. The saturation of light onstage, often an icy blue but flashing to angry red on occasion, lends the production an unmistakably dreamlike quality. Wilson’s “Turandot” is many things, but pandering it is not. Here, we have most cast members clad in bone-white face makeup and costumes that range from dark modern suits to spooky soldier garb and, for the title character, an amorphous blood-red gown straight out of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Several actors are also of Asian descent. In fact, his distinctive style may help neutralize some of the controversy now attached to the opera, which has lately come under scrutiny as an unfortunate buffet of Asian (particularly Chinese) stereotypes.

At its heart, Puccini’s final opera is a glorified fairy tale, the story of a princess who has closed her heart to love until she practically doesn’t have a choice, and Wilson has hardly lost sight of that. But this was my first “Turandot,” apart from watching assorted YouTube clips of more lavish stagings, and it’s tough to imagine ever being quite so transported by less fanciful interpretations. Some find his artistic vision pretentious and dumbfounding, others simply dull. Granted, the director, who has notched nearly 200 shows in his storied six-decade career (the lion’s share of those in Europe) is not to everyone’s taste.

But in this “Turandot,” now onstage through May 8, singing is only part of the story: Several of Wilson’s signature touches - the immersive lighting, hyperstylized movements and otherworldly atmosphere - are here in full flower.

That’s no knock on Tamara Wilson and Kristian Benedikt, as dynamic and compelling a pair of lead actors as any opera company could hope for. It makes sense, because in many ways, the 80-year-old Waco native is the real star of the show, handling the set design and lighting on top of direction. Robert Wilson is such a titanic presence in the theatrical world that for Houston Grand Opera’s latest production of “Turandot,” it’s his name above the title on the Wortham Center marquee. HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson plays the title role. Houston Grand Opera presents Puccini's 'Turandot,' directed by Robert Wilson.

Turandot houston grand opera