The Radio Had Always Been Enough

(Photos "borrowed" from the Met.)

The Metropolitan Opera has always been a part of the "eclectic mix" of my life. I am not sure when I started listening to the radio broadcasts on WOI-FM but it was years ago. I have never been bothered by singers who did not "look the part" because all I could see was the radio in my living room. I did not understand the words, so I bought Milton Cross' book The Stories of the Great Operas and followed along as I listened. It was always enough.




No longer. Today I experienced the Metropolitan from 1,113 miles away. It would have take 18 hours to drive in (and then I could not have found a place to park) and would have cost 10 times the $20 it cost to attend here in Ames at Cinemark.

I arrived at the theater at 11:30 (never be late for the Opera - always for a regular movie) purchased my popcorn - Yes, popcorn at the Opera and I wasn't the only one. It was lunchtime after all.

The orchestra was warming up and the cameras were showing the auditorium in high definition. You could see people walking in and finding their ($200) seats and it was kind of fun to watch. Funny they looked a lot like the people filing into the Cinemark theater (except most of the ones on the screen were younger) - At 12:00 (1:00 New York time) they flashed a sign on the screen that said the Opera would start in 5 minutes. I waited. There were a few people still coming in and a few of them had discourteously arrived late. They were on my list.

I get emotional at times and I teared up two or three times just being there experiencing this great National Treasure that is the Met. (dumb of me I know) The Opera was Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and starred Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna. It was an incredible experience and I am looking forward to the 7 other operas that will be broadcast in HD this year.

As I said before the radio had always been enough. I am not sure if that will work for me any more. From the first note of the orchestra to the final (almost) kiss of the doomed lovers I was enthralled. Opera is a theater experience and that is what I had. You can see from the above that the costumes were lush, the set was celestial, and the actor/singers were superb.

The Met has a Blog about the production which I found very interesting. It tells you a lot about the production and I see no need to repeat it since they did such a great job.

Plácido Domingo conducted the Orchestra and one of the "backstage" moments was when host Renée Fleming interviewed him. I always loved the interviews on the radio shows and felt like I knew some of the performers because of the interviews and other features.

The opera was in French and of course, yours truly does not speak (or understand) French but, not to worry, they had English subtitles at the bottom of the screen. I have always found them distracting on my TV set on the rare occasions I have gotten to watch the opera on TV but they weren't.

During the Intermission I stood back under the light so I could read my book and a man came up and started visiting with me. I had seen someone else reading a paper about the opera (small program) - when asked where he got it he said "Bernie had some he was passing out." Anyway it turns out that the man who started speaking to me was Bernie and you could feel how excited he was to be there and how much he was enjoying it. Obviously more knowledgeable about the Opera than I was but we had a nice visit.

One other (to me) intersting side note was that people in the movie theater audience actually applauded. I am not a big fan of applause and today was no exception. I understand the need to show approval but usually you want the performers to know that you approve enthusiastically so you clap your hands together to make a noise. Sometimes you even stand up and yell Bravo (if you are at the Opera) but in a "movie theater?" I haven't heard a movie applauded for years. I guess it is all right but this was just a smattering of one or five people and was just kind of odd.

You can see an encore performance tomorrow at 2:00 PM.

I enjoyed myself immensely and I am looking forward to the next one which will be on New Years Day. Hugs, j