Go to the Metropolitian Opera

When I lived in NJ I used to go to the opera’s “Met in the Park” performances in the summer. Obviously it’s a very different experience and should not be substituted for going to the opera house, but I highly recommend it. There’s something profoundly beautiful about hearing well-performed opera outdoors on a sultry August evening. Plus it’s free.

I saw “La Traviata” here. It was a mind-blowing experience. The building is just gorgeous and the theater was amazing. I felt like I had gone back in time to when opera was the main form of entertainment.

The Met is by far the most impressive, successful, and phenomenal opera company in America. Compared to the Met, there is little point in seeing low-budget opera productions in other places – they look cheap, the shows feel long and the singers and the orchestras don’t sound nearly as good. The Met has enough money to showcase the best singers in the world, the most amazing stage productions, along with the superb Met Orchestra and Met Ballet dancers – can any other opera company in the world compete with that? Don’t think so….

I’m not an opera buff. But for the longest time I wanted to go see an opera. I finally managed to do that when, during a grad school interview weekend, I persuaded my host to crash a production of Carmen that was taking place in the same building as this fancy banquet dinner. We snuck in and took seats high up on the balcony and watched the entire thing. It was great fun. Now I want to go to a more professional opera and would love to go to the Met some day.