New Year’s Eve is often very special at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sometimes, a comic opera is interrupted so that a procession of stars may dazzle with a seemingly extemporaneous aria concert. On Monday evening, the Met offered a different type of ear candy, mounting one of its biggest hits of the season, but with some significant cast changes.

For this gala event, with many generous patrons in attendance, the company was savvy enough to retain its new superstar, soprano Anna Netrebko, for this last night of the current run of Charles Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.” Ms. Netrebko enjoys international renown and possesses both a rich and full voice and a well-crafted ability to create a character with thespian skill and marvelous physicality. Not everyone is aboard the praise train as of yet, but the very fact that there is a heated debate in this town about Anna Netrebko’s qualifications as prima donna assoluta increases her star power. Everyone is talking about her.

This performance was typical Netrebko. She was in superb voice, and little touches helped to make her coltish teenaged character come to life. Her Juliette clearly didn’t listen to her elders, even going so far as to mock her own wedding ceremony. Her “Je veux vivre” was as effervescent as a flute of celebratory champagne. And this role was made for Ms. Netrebko, as she gets to die not once, but twice.

But she is not new to this production and therefore was not the story of this evening. The illness of Rolando Villazon forced the Met to marshal an entire parade of tenors to woo their Juliette, though one of them, Matthew Polenzani, was always scheduled for this gala event. He did not disappoint. Mr. Polenzani has a ringing, clarion lyric tenor that he can push to heroic heights as necessary. He thoroughly dominated these proceedings and, when left to his own devices, was astounding. In the balcony scene, his “Ah, leve-toi, soleil” was especially impressive. He not only moves his voice along a difficult and rugged path, but retains both excellent pitch control and centering of tone. Think Jon Vickers with just a hint of nasality.

Baritone Nathan Gunn was an animated Mercutio, but his balletic antics occasionally rendered him inaudible. Others who did well included David Won as Gregorio, Charles Taylor as Capulet and Robert Lloyd as Frère Laurent. In the pit was another Met stalwart, Paul Nadler, who led a colorful and well-crafted performance. Since the audience members were anxious to arrive at their parties before midnight, the Act 4 ballet was mercifully excised.

The set — there is just the one — of Johannes Leiacker is functional and serves as a foil for a light show straight out of the Hayden Planetarium. Various celestial bodies reflect the changing moods of these archetypical lovers. Overall, this was a very entertaining evening for the black-tie crowd, but the work itself is really a disappointment. It always seems in “Roméo” that the music is about to burst out into something thrilling, passionate, white-hot, but this is simply never the case. Berlioz, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Bellini, and Delius all told the story much better. “Roméo et Juliette” may be the weakest compositional effort of the entire season.