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I recently thought to myself, who needs yet another overly cerebral, highly jaded heterosexual drag queen like me blathering about the upcoming Metropolitan Opera season on the internet? So I thought we’d let the my future wife and her soon to be mother-in-law have a go solo.
Elizabeth –
Ticket exchange for Met subscriptions began this week. Eager to procure tickets for our most anticipated operas, Shawn and I headed to the Upper West Side to the longest line I have ever seen at the Met. One of the guards keeping the eager crowd under control informed us that it was going to be well over an hour wait. Unable to ignore our grumbling stomachs, we decided to have lunch and came back and only waited 40 minutes before exchanging our tickets for different productions yet in our subscription seats. How lucky!The people at the sales counter made it a very easy and pleasant process. James the ticket man agreeably and efficiently helped us at the ticket counter. It was a stark contrast to last year’s calls from the Met to my future mother-in-law inquiring as to my status in her son’s life before granting me the privilege of buying Met tickets.
We met an older man afterward and marveled at not only how quick the process was but also that we were both able to switch into “our” seats for alternate productions. Is it a sign of slow ticket sales? A more efficient computer system? We shall see this fall.
The man did tell us that in the past he used to wait hours and hours to exchange tickets. The line went out the door. Talk about a dedicated crowd. One year he had his picture taken and was in the NYT doing a story on the wait.
But this year was pretty easy and I’m particularly excited about several productions.
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Two Boys sounds intriguing: a stabbing of one teenage boy by another, based on real life events. Sounds like CSI or Law and Order might be finally making its way to the Met. A good thing? I’m hopeful this English opera will go over better on my ears than Powder her Face. I greatly enjoyed Bartlett Sher’s Elixir of Love, so I’m excited to see what he has in store for us with Two Boys.
James Levine’s return to the Met this fall is especially thrilling for me. The first opera I saw at the Met was Das Rheingold in 2000 with Levine. My first row orchestra seats gave me a prime view of Levine at work and I still remember that evening as magical. Hoping to recapture the magic, I’m eagerly anticipating both Falstaff and Wozzeck. And with Thomas Hampson and James Levine in Wozzeck, how could this go wrong?
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The satirical Shostakovich opera The Nose also sounds like fun. If anything, seeing how the graying refined Met audience deals with a character that is simply a nose will be entertaining. Finally, I’m excited to see Jonas Kaufmann in Werther. I loved him in Parsifal last year and eager to hear more from him. Wagner does cast a spell on me and anything Wagnerian is great in my opinion, but the hype around Jonas Kaufmann seems to be believable.
It has been at least six years since I attended a performance at the Met—Iowa isn’t that close to New York. However, I have listened to most of the broadcasts since I have been here. Some I have had to turn off as they were not what I think singing and conducting should be. I also spend much time talking with friends in New York who are at these performances and we talk after broadcasts or during. Although I am no longer active in the industry and not physically involved in live performances, I am opinionated about my likes. I have become an onlooker to an industry where I was once a player. I am really an onlistener.
Some thoughts about this upcoming season:
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In Wozzeck we have Thomas Hampson, a fine actor, great with words and a color committed interpreter, but cannot be heard. With the Marie of Voigt I see the hand of Maestro Levine convincing singers to do things that are less than good for them. I think the same of the overparted Rigolettoof Hvorostovsky, a beautiful singer but never a get dirty singer, a sweat singer as a flowing mane will not save Cortigiani. I know that singers seek new rep, but what does the public lose?This upcoming season has many unknown names, many Russian names. I hope there will be wonderful surprises for the New York public, as we yearn for a charismatic, idiosyncratic, thrilling risk-taking singer to step forth and sweep us away. Just like the old days, remember… Bland unoriginal singing, acting and color of sound now seems to be the trend at the Met. I say stop it! Let’s get back to fireworks, excitement and great singing. Spend money on the singers, not the direction and sets.
Levine’s name is down for much conducting, and he is best when leading other talented gifted exciting singers. He alone cannot make an evening worth the money it costs to now go to the Met.
The Met should be the place where finished, accomplished, polished singers come to perform, one should not be learning on the Met stage. The public deserves more. Trust the singers and the public. We know what we like we do not have to be led by effete persons who want to mold our tastes. Give us satin, bodices full of passion, trousers full of thrills and the fun and joy of an emotion filled evening. We want to cry at the beauty of the music, the feeling of the singer, and the power of the voice. The old standards of opera rep are there because they are loved by the public they are reliable we know we are safe and our thrills guaranteed.
Related Links:
How to Stylishly Cuddle at the Metropolitan Opera and Other Dirty Tricks
Why The Met Is Failing (And It Ain’t Just Artistic)
A Catholic Schoolgirl’s Musings on Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera
Wow!