Something wicked

ave you seen the new ABC series "Eastwick," loosely based — very loosely based — on John Updike's "The Witches of Eastwick"?

While it's not a great show, I find it a guilty pleasure, with the three witches representing the three faces of the goddess. There's the maiden (pert reporter Joanna, played by Lindsay Price of the late guilty pleasure "Lipstick Jungle"); the mother (loving nurse Kat, Jaime Ray Newman); and the wise crone (bodacious artist Roxanne, Rebecca Romijn). They're all bewitched, bothered and bewildered by a devilish gazillionaire named Darryl (Paul Gross).

The trio has nothing, however, on "the witches of Westchester" — 22 of them to be exact. They'll be bubbling toil and trouble as the Taconic Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's "Macbeth" Friday through Sunday at Yorktown Stage and Oct. 24 at Harrison High School. (photo courtesy of Taconic Opera)

"This is Verdi's biggest chorus opera," says Taconic general director Dan Montez.

But the number of witches hasn't expanded merely to accommodate the composer's choral demands, he adds: "(Designer) Sean Martin has built an interesting set that reshapes itself as the witches manipulate it."

And conjure the destinies of the ambitious Macbeth (baritone Jerett Gieseler on Friday and Sunday; Constantinos Yannoudes on Saturday and Oct. 24) and his power-mad wife (soprano Francesca Mondanaro on Friday and Sunday; Samia Bahu on Saturday and Oct. 24).

While the Taconic Opera production promises "a few magical surprises," Montez says it has a traditional Renaissance-y setting.

Not that he's against updates. (Remember the company's "Otello" — set in a 21st-century White House — which looked mighty au courant considering the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president?)

Still, Montez — who has the courage of his convictions — is not a fan of the hip minimalism that has sparked so much controversy in The Metropolitan Opera's current "Tosca."

"I was actually disturbed by it," he says of Luc Bondy's grimly spare production, which replaced Franco Zeffirelli's architecturally sumptuous crowd-pleaser. "(Zeffirelli's) were sets to make your eyes pop out."

If you're going to use minimalism, Montez adds, there has to be great purpose to it.

Kudos to the Taconic Opera, which has reached an agreement with Circolo Culturale Mola to televise its spring production simultaneously in Italy.

"We knew we couldn't just try to survive anymore, but had to grow and change more drastically if we wanted to continue to bring this amazing art form to Westchester."

For "Macbeth" tickets, log on to taconicopera.org or call 914-245-3415.