I struck up conversation with a woman in the Calgary Airport boarding area, who lives in Calgary but hails from Brooklyn. After we landed in Newark, we both caught the airport shuttle service into Manhattan, and she pointed me in the right direction to get to Lincoln Centre, where the Metropolitan Opera House is.
That was my first stop. No time to check into my hotel, but I did have enough time to grab a quick bite to eat before the 8:00 performance of Nozze di Figaro. The light meal was not expensive and it was just right. And of course the opera was fabulous, starring the incredibley beautiful and talented Danielle de Niese in the soprano role of Rosina. The mezzo who played the "trouser role" of Cherubino was EXCELLENT. I can't remember her name, but the audience was very appreciative of their home town girl doing such a terrific job. Figaro was sung by the very hunky Canadian baritone John Relyea.
After the opera I took a cab to the budget hotel, in Harlem, where my son Colin booked our accommodation. It felt a bit sketchy at first, because the cab driver let me off one block short of my destination. I was a bit concerned, not being able to find the 5th Ave Spot Hotel, until I was very kindly directed by local homeless person to the next block, where, sure enough, I found it!
I was a little alarmed, again, when upon checking in, there was a young guest at reception asking why had he been kicked out of his bed, and moved to another and then kicked out of that one and then put back in his originally assigned bed. I would have been a lot more miffed than he was, but he was pretty upset. With that little scenario, I decided I would take it one night at a time, and see how things worked out. You can't expect miracles for $22/night, but still... Well, tonight is my 3rd night, so I guess I will stay put for the duration. Colin arrives tomorrow morning on the greyhound from Montreal. I'm very excited to spend a few days here with him before I leave for Rome on Monday Oct 12th.
Tuesday I spent time getting around on the sub-way system to various locations, including a trip to Staten Island (on the free ferry) and some wandering around in downtown Manhattan and a self guided walking tour of Greenwich Village. Another opera at 8:00 took me back to the hotel in time to get cleaned up, into my glad rags, and back to the same lovely restaurant as the night before, for another perfect light meal before Tosca.
Tosca got bad reviews by the critics and the opening night audience booed it more than any other performance in Met history. I was very interested to find out why. Are NYC audiences just really hung up on the old reliable productions of the favorite operas? Or was it really THAT bad? Well, I'm here to tell you that NOT everything the Met does is great. This production was boring and flat, despite the high quality of the singers and orchestra. The director really missed out on this production, and I'm happy to say that I only spent $20US on my ticket (partial views - turns out I didn't miss that much! But the sound was fantastic!)
Today I decided to check out Grand Central Station in all its splendour, and the Main Branch of the Public Library. Both gorgeous buildings. The I went to Coney Island....
...I just had to see it. If ever you make a trip to NYC (and you should) I think you can safely skip Coney Island. Unless you want a big dose of kitch, cheese, gyros, Nathan's hot dogs, and run down carni rides and games. Holy moly, this place is REALLY REALLY weird! But I had a nice chat with a woman from New Jersey who was there for her first time. She actually knew of Canada, and could actually name some places in Ontario, where she has relatives. A woman who approached me yesterday, raising money for some sort of community arts projects, actually asked me "What's a Canadian" when I told her who I was.
So, now I'm heading off to Aida. It should be quite the spectacle, as always. Can't wait!
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