Mitch Friedfeld wrote: > 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! Here in Santa Barbara we've experienced a similar phenomenon. The new 350-seat Hahn Hall music venue (which has excellent acoustics) at the Music Academy of the West was sold out for Thais. The Met HD series is also shown at a local movie palace, the 2000+ seat Arlington Theatre. A friend who saw Thais there said that the theater was "almost full." Well, let's say about 1500. Dr. Atomic, a couple of weeks ago, was similarly attended. If this is happening across the country, indeed, around the world, the Met is really on to something exciting. Dare we hope that there is a large opera audience out there that can be enticed with reasonable prices, startlingly clear video, and excellent sound? C. Hugh Marsh Santa Barbara, California [log in to unmask] *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html