The Metropolitan Opera's highly-anticipated revival of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde appears to be cursed, after its replacement tenor slipped into the prompter's box causing a performance to halt yet again.

The New York company's Tuesday night performance was stopped at the start of the third act after part of the set tenor Gary Lehman was lying on came loose. 

Gary Lehman and Janice Baird, appearing in their title roles during a dress rehearsal of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera, have replaced the starring leads of Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt, who are both ill.
(Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera/AP)

Lehman slid into the prompter's box — a  booth projecting above the floor in front of the stage where prompter sits. The prompter is the person who gives cues or lines to performers should they forget something.

Lehman had to be examined by a doctor first before the performance resumed.

Trouble began on the six-performance run before it even started after Canadian tenor Ben Heppner came down with a virus, cancelling his first four performances. Heppner hopes to return March 25 and 26.

Then, on the March 10 opening night, soprano Deborah Voigt — who plays the female lead — left in the middle of the second act because of a stomach ailment.

Heppner and Voigt are considered to be among the world's most skilled Wagner performers. They have never appeared on stage together and the Met's production was supposed to be a kind of dream team pairing.

Voigt was replaced by Janice Baird, who is making her Met debut along with Lehman. The newcomers have since gotten good reviews.

The Met has not announced who will portray Tristan for Saturday's matinee, set to be telecast in high-definition to theatres worldwide.

With files from the Associated Press