Jonas Kaufmann and the Reverse Scalpers: Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera

Elizabeth – When I heard Jonas Kaufmann cancelled for Wednesday’s performance of Carmen, I have to admit I wasn’t surprised. I don’t doubt (well, maybe there is a little doubt) that he is sick, but hearing that he was only going to be in two performances of one show at the Met this year made me wary that he would make the trip to New York at all. I’m not sure if Carmen is a part of his regular repertoire but showing up at the Met for just two performances of the opera and nothing else the entire season didn’t seem like a good situation. I can’t imagine such a limited engagement would engender much loyalty or sense of responsibility on his end. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when he also cancelled Saturday’s performance.

I briefly considered not attending, but I’d heard good things about Elina Garanča as well as Ailyn Pérez. And a friend encouraged us to still go, she loves Yonghoon Lee and think he’s terrific. So we went. I expected there to be more scalpers than usual, but I wasn’t expecting the crowds in front of the Met. And these scalpers willing to take a loss on their ticket, just to recoup some of their money. Haggling ensued and it seemed like many scalpers were able to sell their tickets, but there were still many empty seats inside. They were quickly filled with people who had purchased standing room tickets, and we all got a great show, regardless of Kaufmann’s absence.

The production is the same one from two years ago, and it’s effective, using the height and depth of the Met’s giant stage, yet also allowing the singers to shine.

Ailyn Pérez was a beautiful Micaëla. I hadn’t heard her before and loved her voice. She captured the sweetness and innocence of her character. Elīna Garanča was Carmen, a role that she completely inhabits as second skin. Her seductive Carmen makes it easy to see why Don José left his life and love to be with her. It was a surprise to meet her backstage and find her utterly different than her character; she seemed so natural as Carmen. Gábor Bretz’s Escamillo was exactly what you would expect of the character: confident and assertive. His voice was also impressively powerful.

And Yonghoon Lee filling in for Kaufmann was great. Really great. I thought he was terrific off the bat, but other audience members thought he took time before he came into his voice. I heard one operagoer complaining at intermission that Lee was horrible, but I completely disagree. People were expecting Kaufmann and looking to be critical. Lee was in a tough spot and had an uphill climb. But his acting was excellent as was his voice and by the end the crowd loved him. The applause and cheers from the crowd at the end were heartwarming—as were the two kisses Garanča gave him while the audience cheered. It reminded me of the time Javier Camarena filled in for Juan Diego Florez and stole the show—I’m eagerly awaiting Camarena’s return to the Met. And while Lee is perhaps not quite the singer Camarena is, I’m thinking of picking up tickets for Don Carlo to see him in that, too.

Shawn –

This week, when Jonas Kaufmann cancelled his first performance of Carmen this season at the Met due to flu, the joke online was “Kaufmann canceled HALF his Met season this year!” as he was only booked for two performances at the Met this year. Not two productions. Two performances. Of Carmen. Tickets had been scalping for nearly $1000 a piece online for the Wednesday performance before Kaufmann cancelled. As we held tickets for Saturday’s sold out, and now only Kaufmann appearance this year, I was briefly tempted to check the scalper prices to see if they had gone up to $2000. But I didn’t.

Then Thursday morning Kaufmann canceled Saturday’s appearance and I immediately regretted my decision, as we really would have come out ahead financially. I had, in part, planned our Met season around Kaufmann’s two performances so I was annoyed as all my planning and schedule tinkering a year in advance was for naught.

I knew I was not alone in this feeling, but had no idea how much until we got to the Met on Saturday afternoon. There are always scalpers in front of the Met before a show but I have never seen so many and never so well dressed.

Let me clarify however, these people were actually reverse scalping. Trying to sell their tickets for far less than the face value. In fact in many cases for whatever they could get. Side Front Orchestra seats were going for $60. I saw $240 tickets going for $125 which were then haggled down to $80 and someone with $262 tickets was peddling them for “best offer”. One woman selling tickets in a fur coat and Manolo Blahnik’s prompted my up and coming playwright friend to say in quasi-disgust, “How about I take the ticket and you give ME $20?”

It was a bizarre scene. Especially in the reverse scalpers’ air of desperation. As if without Kaufmann they not only wouldn’t go, but shouldn’t, dear god COULDN’T go to the performance so were trying to extricate themselves from the situation with some shred of financial and moral dignity.

Bad move. The show was great. Tenor Yonghoon Lee, who also stepped into Wednesday’s performance, was very good, Elīna Garanča was excellent and Ailyn Pérez, in her Met debut run, was almost exquisite.

Matinee audiences can often be a crapshoot, but Saturday’s was rowdy and wildly enthusiastic and Yonghoon Lee seemed genuinely moved by their fervent reception of him. Mr. Lee will be singing Don Carlo at the Met with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto starting March 30^th.

I hope at least some of the reverse scalpers were able to take their $80 and get a good salad across the street because they took a $180 loss AND missed a great show.

– Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes

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Jonas Kaufmann and the Reverse Scalpers: Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera

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