I saw La Bohème performed by the Metropolitan Opera for free in Central Park last night. When you see the performance for free, you don’t get special things like sets or staging or translations; you get the singers standing at microphones in front of the orchestra, but that’s not a complaint.
I never realized how much Puccini “preemptively borrowed” from Jonathan Larson’s Rent. Not only does the story match up almost precisely, but the character names also match up.
The weather was really nice even though I had feared it would be too hot. I had wanted to get there early to get a good seat, but we were almost late to the concert though, as we first took the Express subway instead of the Local. Even if we had taken the right train, it still would have been packed. Apparently there are a lot of people in New York, and they all seem to like free events in the park.
I’m thinking about seeing The Barber of Seville on Monday, and of course the Philharmonic in the Park series whenever that happens to be. If anyone else is interested, feel free to join me.
1. sorry about the local thing 🙁
2. yes tons of people go to the parks concerts — 60,000 is the capacity of the great lawn — people start showing up at noon or earlier.
3. jul 24 & aug 1 are the philharmonic central park dates.
Man oh man. Why can’t I live near there. I have to move.