Celebrating the "little Falstaff in all of us", Peter Kazaras' staging played with performance conventions - letting the audience in on the joke.

Peter Rose (Sir John Falstaff) and Stephanie Blythe (Dame Quickly) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Doug Jones (Dr. Caius), Anya Matanovic (Nannetta), Sasha Cooke (Meg Page), Weston Hurt (Ford), and Svetla Vassileva (Alice Ford) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Svetla Vassileva (Alice Ford) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010.

Peter Rose (Sir John Falstaff) and Weston Hurt (Ford) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Ashraf Sewailam (Pistol), Weston Hurt (Ford), Steven Goldstein (Bardolph), and Doug Jones (Dr. Caius) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Blagoj Nacoski (Fenton) and Anya Matanovic (Nannetta) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Stephanie Blythe (Dame Quickly) and Peter Rose (Sir John Falstaff) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Anya Matanovic (Nannetta), Sasha Cooke (Meg Page), and Svetla Vassileva (Alice Ford) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Anya Matanovic (Nannetta), Sasha Cooke (Meg Page), Stephanie Blythe (Dame Quickly), and Svetla Vassileva (Alice Ford) in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch

Cast and chorus assembled on Donald Eastman's set in Verdi's Falstaff, 2010. © Rozarii Lynch