After the final drums sounded on opening night of Doctor Atomic and the music gave way to the lone voice of a Japanese woman calling for water, a packed house at the Metropolitan Opera sat in awed silence for several moments before bursting into thunderous applause.

“Just extraordinary,” commented Walter Gray, a Manhattan accountant seated in one of the Met’s tier boxes. “Yes,” responded Fiona Thomas, public relations director for a New York fashion house. “I honestly won’t forget that.”

From the red velvet seats of the Met, selected guests made their way to the Doctor Atomic after party, held on the Grand Tier. Cast and crew members mingled with musical luminaries, UN officials, designers, Met patrons and one mixologist who preferred to remain anonymous but said, “I adored Kitty’s treatment of the martini.”

(more…)

As the Metropolitan Opera’s final dress rehearsal for Doctor Atomic got underway, the hall filled with high school and college students from across New York. The special event gave over one thousand future Met-goers—many of them science majors— a chance to experience opera and to consider the connections between science and art from a fresh angle.

For some it was a first-time experience. For others the medium was more familiar territory, but John Adams’s modern take on the art would be new. For all, it was an unforgettable experience.

(more…)

“Who would have thought—an opera about the atomic bomb?”

“I’ve been dying to see this since it’s premiere in San Francisco.”

“I’m so glad John Adams is finally at the Met!”

Such was the swirl of commentary and anticipation as the house lights dimmed on the Metropolitan Opera’s final dress rehearsal today for Doctor Atomic. Straggling audience members found their seats. A bank of computer screens in rows M and N glowed. Leo Warner of Fifty Nine Productions, who with Mark Grimmer designed the projections for the production, murmured into his headset. And Doctor Atomic got underway.

(more…)