Will be in NYC NYE, kind of unexpectedly. Wondering about something to do that
a) doesn't involve Times Sqaure
b) doesn't involve consuming large quantities of alcohol
An event in which my 12 year old daughter could join my wife and me would be ideal. I'm not too concerned about prices....I know nothing is cheap.
Mike
Analise
Dec 26, 10, 6:51 pm
You could try the Nutcracker performed by the New York City ballet.
armattheus
Dec 26, 10, 6:58 pm
There is also the Big Apple Circus.
Non-NonRev
Dec 28, 10, 4:57 pm
By far the most controversial arts event on NYE will be the opening night of the Met's new production of La Traviata.
This is no frilly dresses and fancy ballrooms production; instead, it's Willy Decker's landmark 2005 Salzburg production (perfectly OK for a mature 12-year old who likes a wide range of music):
This modern-dress production replaces a hideously-ornate monstrosity production by Franco Zefferelli, and the Franco fans are sure to be p'eed off!
Analise
Dec 28, 10, 7:00 pm
Looks like the Met is 'slumming' into the world of the City Opera but of course charging Met prices for tickets. ;) (Just kidding for those of you who are City Opera fans)
miles4CDG
Dec 28, 10, 8:57 pm
There's a great fireworks show at midnight near the southern end of Central Park, that kicks off the New York Road Runners' Midnight Run. http://www.nyrr.org/races/2010/r1231x00.asp. Good views from Central Park South and Columbus Circle (and almost anywhere around the southern 2/3rds of the Park that's unobstructed.)
Non-NonRev
Dec 28, 10, 11:51 pm
Looks like the Met is 'slumming' into the world of the City Opera but of course charging Met prices for tickets. ;) (Just kidding for those of you who are City Opera fans)Not at all - this is a epochal production, shown live throughout Europe when it premiered; the DVD is one of the all-time top-selling classical DVDs. Decker once ran the Cologne opera comapny, and has dome productions all over the world.
Since he assumed the directorship of the Met, Peter Gelb has made it a primary focus of his tenure to bring the Met's production values out of the 19th century. Some of his efforts have not come to fruition, but the greater part of his efforts have succeeded, some of them (last years "From the House of the Dead", "Dr. Atomic", "Satyagraha", "The Nose", and others) have been brilliant artistic successes and have brought many younger audiences to the Met, which needs to attract diverse audiences to succeed in the future.
BTW - for anyone interested, Friday night's premier (starting at 7 pm, not 8 pm) will be streamed live on the Met website (no charge, you need to have Real Player on your computer). Also on Sirius XM Channel 78.
Analise
Dec 29, 10, 9:21 am
Since he assumed the directorship of the Met, Peter Gelb has made it a primary focus of his tenure to bring the Met's production values out of the 19th century. Some of his efforts have not come to fruition, but the greater part of his efforts have succeeded, some of them (last years "From the House of the Dead", "Dr. Atomic", "Satyagraha", "The Nose", and others) have been brilliant artistic successes and have brought many younger audiences to the Met, which needs to attract diverse audiences to succeed in the future.Gelb has mixed reviews by the Met audience of today (those who look down on the City Opera for being modern). He has his work cut out for him to attract "diverse audiences". He might try to drop the ticket prices substantially. :D
Mixed reviews to say the least:
Flickering Vision
Peter Gelb’s first full season at the Met produced one shining moment—and a lot of fizzles.
In the first production of Rossini’s Armida to reach the Metropolitan Opera (and New York), Renée Fleming flicks a wand and transforms a creature-infested grotto into a palace of sensual delights. The Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, must crave that trick right now to restore the health of his budget, his music director, and his aesthetic agenda, all of which are ailing. Yet Fleming’s wand couldn’t even jolt the opening-night performance out of its sloppy lassitude.
Gelb has been running the company for more than three years, but this is the first full season he planned, paid for, and delivered—a rollout of eight new productions, culminating with Armida and laying out a program of modernization that is supposed to save the art form. Always a couple of decades behind, the Met is only now junking its collection of ponderously pseudo-realistic sets in favor of the kinds of lean, abstract productions that seemed startling in the nineties. The strategy is fine, but its execution needs more muscle and judgment....http://nymag.com/arts/classicaldance/classical/reviews/65484/
He's got an uphill battle with Met patrons as this article about Traviata's New Year's Eve premier illustrates.
Gelb on Zeffirelli, the New ‘La Traviata’ and More at the Met
Is the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “La Traviata” part of a “large dastardly plot” against the director Franco Zeffirelli? Not at all, said Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, at a panel discussion on Monday night.
The production, which opens on New Year’s Eve, is directed by the German Willy Decker and replaces the Zeffirelli version. It is the latest lavish Zeffirelli production that the Met has phased out in recent seasons, much to the chagrin of his stalwart fans. Mr. Gelb said the director himself did not consider it his greatest work. “There aren’t even any live animals in it,” Mr. Gelb said.
He said there were no plans to replace Mr. Zeffirelli’s productions of “La Bohème” and “Turandot.” “So you can rest easy,” he told the audience in the Met auditorium, to mild applause. That Mr. Gelb even made such comments is a sign of the sensitivity the Met feels about retiring productions with a strong following.
....
Mr. Gelb said that some Met opera-goers live in “mortal terror” of European productions that take a radical approach — termed by their critics Eurotrash....http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/gelb-on-zeffirelli-the-new-la-traviata-and-more-at-the-met/?scp=1&sq=la%20traviata%20reviews&st=cse
Snobs they are, but they are the ones who can afford subscriptions to the Metropolitan Opera.
Non-NonRev
Dec 29, 10, 11:12 pm
Here's a YouTube of the dress rehearsal with the Met cast (Poplavskaya and Polenzani):
On the topic of affordability: Are you aware of the Varis/Leichtman Rush Tickets program, by which a good number of tickets are made available at a very affordable price ($20 to $25):
On the topic of affordability: Are you aware of the Varis/Leichtman Rush Tickets program, by which a good number of tickets are made available at a very affordable price ($20 to $25):
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/varis/template.aspx?id=12586No, I wasn't. That's good! But if Gelb's goal is long-term diversity, he needs to make good seats more affordable on a subscription basis. A drawing to get weekend seats makes seeing the opera a lottery. Having to wait on line 2 hours in advance of curtain time is a nice way to get people to try opera but to stand on line for a while for each opera you want to see is not a way to build up a diverse clientele. Gelb knows this because he exempts senior citizens from having to do so. Still, this is a couple's generous private gift so they can do whatever they like.
If Gelb's goal is to change the audience type to younger, more diverse people, pricing subscriptions at more affordable prices is vital. Even the New York City Opera's subscription prices are less. Let's see how dedicated he is about obtaining his goal.
The stodgy types view his European opera venue as "Eurotrash". They're in "mortal terror" of anything but classical opera? If so, he needs that diverse audience because they'll embrace his viewpoint more than the current audience does. If he wants them, he's got to reduce the price of subscriptions
lerasp
Dec 30, 10, 10:03 pm
completely agree on the ticket prices. i wanted to see "Carmen" and checked out tickets. the prices have really shot up over the last few years. Orchestra seats were $350-$450 (each!!!). Seats in the nosebleed section 4 levels up were still $125. this is crazy! for a couple, this turns into a $500-$1000 night. Meanwhile, I can get tickets to many Broadway shows and plays for $50 at TKTS. sure, there's more work and people involved, but going to the opera shouldn't be an event of a lifetime. so, they lost at least one customer in their target younger group.
regarding rush tickets - i asked at the box office, and was told that people begin lining up 3-4hrs ahead.
Analise
Dec 31, 10, 8:08 am
completely agree on the ticket prices. i wanted to see "Carmen" and checked out tickets. the prices have really shot up over the last few years. Orchestra seats were $350-$450 (each!!!). Seats in the nosebleed section 4 levels up were still $125. this is crazy! for a couple, this turns into a $500-$1000 night. You're not going to have a diversified audience at those prices including those seats subsidized by charity. For diversity, you need people to subscribe. What kind of diversity do they have now at those prices?
"Carmen" is one of my favorite operas. What is affordable is the Metropolitan Opera's DVD of "Carmen". Gelb's version is on Amazon—$31.99 for new.
Here's an idea: Gelb should price the most expensive seats in packaged subscription at ~$50-$60 per ticket per performance and then price lower for those seats in higher tiers using the same percentage of price reduction the Met uses now. That will bring in a more diverse audience.
Landing Gear
Dec 31, 10, 9:03 am
You're not going to have a diversified audience at those prices including those seats subsidized by charity. For diversity, you need people to subscribe. What kind of diversity do they have now at those prices?
"Carmen" is one of my favorite operas. What is affordable is the Metropolitan Opera's DVD of "Carmen". Gelb's version is on Amazon—$31.99 for new.
I once saw Carmen with Marilyn Horne in the title role and James McCracken as Don José but I don't think I would pay $700-$900 even for a repeat of this stellar cast.
WillR
Dec 31, 10, 9:46 am
There are tickets for tonight's show at two price points: $28 and $625. Nothing in between :)