Anna Netrebko, one of opera’s reigning prima donnas, recalled the skeptical reactions that greeted her decision to make a stab at singing the dark and demanding role of Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s “Macbeth.”

“I never saw so many googly eyes in my life,” she said. “Even those who were close to me and knew me said, ‘No way, no, you’re crazy, you cannot do that,’ ” she said with a laugh. “Of course, it’s crazy. I am not a dramatic soprano.”

Ms. Netrebko’s crazy gamble is paying off. Her Lady Macbeth is causing a sensation at the Metropolitan Opera, winning roars from audiences — on Friday night there was even a “Brava!” in the middle of her sleepwalking scene — and rave reviews. Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times that, from her first scene, “you knew the role was hers.” Manuela Hoelterhoff of Bloomberg News called her performance “one of the greatest triumphs in recent Met history.” And James Jorden wrote in The New York Observer that “she delivered what opera buffs call a ‘demented’ performance, one so exciting it propels both artist and audience figuratively to the brink of madness.”