Went to my first New York Met broadcast to theaters today -- Massenet's
Thais, with Renee Fleming and Thomas Hampson -- and was very pleased.
And would you believe it: the 471-seat arena-style theater was sold
out...weeks in advance!

A couple of weeks ago we were at the same theater, and I asked about the
next broadcast, Thais.  They said it was sold out.  Tell me another one,
I thought.  When the site -- start at http://www.fathomevents.com/ and
drill down -- also claimed a sellout, I thought there was something funny
going on, maybe a lack of agreement between the theater chain and the
Met on how to sell tickets.  But no, almost every seat was occupied.  I
only got in because they had a small number of requested tickets that
weren't picked up.  I thought I was going to be the only one there, but
when a seat at the real opera can cost way more than $200, a $22 seat
with unobstructed views and plenty of legroom looks pretty darn good.
Apparently to a lot more people than me.

The broadcast included at least some of the vignettes that you hear on
the Met's radio broadcasts.  And there were a couple of charming intros
and mini-interviews by Placido Domingo.  I have to mention one other
thing.  The first person to take a bow at the end of the whole thing was
the violinist who played possibly the most well-known music in the whole
opera, the Meditation.  I have never seen a member of the pit appear on
the stage like that; bravo to whoever thought of that.  The violinist
was also the subject of an intermission interview.

If you are thinking of attending one of these, I highly encourage it.
But get your tickets in advance; there is apparently an opera cult out
there that is buying up tickets like crazy.  Thais will be encored on
January 7, and La Rondine is the next new production, on January 10.
Butterfly is coming up on March 7; don't even try to buy tickets ahead
of me for that one.  I've already signed up for an E-mail alert for when
tickets to that go on sale.

In addition to the ticket site above, you can get more information at:

 http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

Mitch Friedfeld

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