The promotional logo for this weekend’s New Orleans Opera production of “Turandot” features a stylized image of a fire-breathing dragon. A widely recognizable symbol of ancient China, the mythical creature could also represent the opera’s title character, who fits the description of a “dragon lady.” However, if the opera were to be given a subtitle, the best choice might be “Dragon Lady Meets Her Match.”

A Chinese princess, misguidedly seeking to avenge the abduction and murder of a long-ago female ancestor, has boldly declared that no man shall possess her and that suitors who fail to solve three riddles she poses to them will have their heads cut off. Until a mysterious, unnamed prince — Calaf, the son of a deposed king of a conquered region — arrives to beat her at her own game of riddles, more than 20 royal suitors from all over the ancient world have paid the fatal price.