Aided by her daughter (Shauna Farrell) and a mute servant boy (Stelio Calagas), phony medium Madame Flora (Maureen Forrester) swindles her unsuspecting clients using simple parlor tricks -- until a supernatural force reaches out and grabs her by the throat. An eerie ambiance permeates this 1977 televised production (staged at the Comus Music Theatre in Toronto) of composer Gian Carlo Menotti's first major opera.