YMMV / Andrea Chénier

• Alternative Character Interpretation: When, in the third act, Gérard defends Chénier to the last at the trial (unsuccessfully), and Chénier is moved to tears and admits as much in a touching Friendship Moment, is he unaware that it was Gérard whose actions actually sent him to the trial? Or does he realize it and also see Gérard's genuine remorse? Either way, it's a massive Tear Jerker.
  Chénier: Oh, you noble, great man! See... I'm crying...
• Americans Hate Tingle: While not among the most performed operas, it has fared reasonably well – except in the former socialist countries, for the obvious reasons that the French Revolution was glorified by the socialistic regimes. Even now it’s hardly known there, especially compared to other verismo operas like Tosca or Pagliacci that are and always have been wildly successful in the Eastern Bloc, regardless of the political situation.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Being a complex and tragic character, Gérard is a favorite with the audiences. And not just the audiences: even tenors have stated they would have liked to sing him instead of the Cloudcuckoolander Chénier.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: A number of fans ship Maddalena with Gérard, stating that Chénier is more In Love with Love than with the girl herself. Admittedly, Chénier's love confessions are rather generic and his romance with Maddalena seems rushed, while Gérard has known Maddalena all his life and the way he fondly describes her in the second act can be viewed as a Heartwarming Moment; still, the matter is slightly complicated by the fact that he's a violent and unstable Stalker with a Crush.
• Love to Hate: The Incroyable is fascinatingly sleazy. Heinz Zednik, who has sung the role, has noted that the character is extremely interesting and one of his favorites despite being a fairly minor part.
• Strangled by the Red String: Even by opera standards, Chénier and Maddalena's relationship develops with hardly any buildup. In act one, they flirt lightly, and Chénier is mostly concerned about the unfairness of the world, in act two, they meet again after five years and suddenly realize they are in love forever and ever. Probably justified, since much of their love springs from the general loneliness and fear (which Maddalena admits).
• Tear Jerker: Well, it is a verismo opera focused on the Reign of Terror.
  • Maddalena’s aria La mamma morta, where she reveals what she has been through for the last five years – her mother killed right next to her room, her faithful servant forced to turn to prostitution, and her entire life crushed, with the love for Chénier as her only joy. She concludes by saying she is as good as dead.
  • Chénier getting condemned by the Tribunal and an Angry Mob, despite Gérard's defense of him (see above). Maddalena is forced to see all this. When Chénier spots her (Gérard points her out in the crowd), he says that at least he has seen her and shall die happy. And then she joins him on the guillotine.
  • For all of his flaws, Gérard's storyline as well. He will have to live with the knowledge that his lust and jealousy caused the deaths of his good friend and the girl he had loved all his life. Moreover, for the five years that pass between acts one and two, he desperately searches for Maddalena, not even knowing that she is alive. And then he finds her, only for his own actions to lead to her death.
• Values Resonance: Stalking is not romantic or even impressive. This opera was composed long before it became a legal offence, but though Gérard is a tragic character and his feelings for Maddalena run deeper than Entitled to Have You, his stalking of her is clearly depicted as major creepiness.