Enthusiastic Reactions in Schools and Movie Theaters
Posted by Philipp Brieler on 12/15/2007Students, teachers and parents loved watching the transmission at Celia Cruz Bronx High School, and most of them said they were going to come back for the second one in January. There were even some very young kids in the audience, who watched with fascination and clapped enthusiastically after the opera’s arias and duets.
“This is a milestone opportunity, a great way to introduce our community to the wonderful world of opera,” remarked Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, who was attending the show at The Grand Street Campus High Schools in Brooklyn. “It’s a win-win situation: a win for the Metropolitan Opera and a win for our community and our students, for the future Plácido Domingos or Jessye Normans right here on our campus.” The students agreed: “I can’t believe I got to see that for free!” one of them said. Some were surprised how exciting live opera can be: “I really like the way they captured the audience by going backstage,” said 15-year-old Jamaine. “That was awesome!” The atmosphere was almost like being at the Met: ushers even used xylophones to call people back to their seats at the end of the intermission. While all of the boys seemed to love Anna Netrebko, the girls were especially taken with her white-and-pink dress.
Enthusiastic reports also kept coming in from movie theaters in places as far apart as Nashville, Prague and the Walter Reade Theater right next door to the Met.
Photos: Stephanie Berger/Metropolitan Opera
December 15th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I agree that the opera was wonderful and very well-received. I just wanted to offer a correction to the above post as I was at the school where Nydia Velazquez spoke and where the ushers used xylophones to call the audience back from intermission and it was not Long Island City High School in Queens. It was at the fabulous Grand Street Campus High Schools (including Enterprise Business and Technology H.S.) in Brooklyn. I also teach there and am very proud of our music students and arts department for the wonderful job that they did!!
December 15th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Oops, I almost forgot… thank you MET for bringing opera to Brooklyn:)
December 15th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I watched that wonderful Opera in Würzburg (Germany) yesterday and loved the experience. Having been to the Met two times before, it really felt like coming back. Just great. I’ll be back for Macbeth!
December 16th, 2007 at 4:51 am
I was entranced! What a remarkable experience. Thank you so much. Stupidly, I wandered into the theatre thinking I was about to see a movie. I was surprised to learn from Mr. Gelb that I was about to see the full opera. I thought, oh well, I can always leave if it fails to grab me. Not a problem! I am now a huge Alagna fan (I had never heard him before), and I spent the evening recounting Anna Neblenko’s pranks (both on stage & off) as a goofy 14-year old! I was spellbound for the full three & half hours. What a terrific way to popularize opera. Thank you again.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Maggie, thanks for pointing out the mixed-up school names! It’s been corrected.