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Ever since the Metropolitan Opera hired Peter Gelb as its General Manager, he has instituted many changes in the stodgy old Met attitude, none more dramatic than the series of The MetLive in HD in thousands of movie theaters across America and the world. In its first full season, the movie casts were seen by over 300,000 paying customers watching a live broadcast, not on their home television set but on a huge screen at their local movie theater seen in High Definition with Digital sound. Many movie casts draw more paying customers than first run Hollywood movies.

I have been at The Met on a couple of occasions when they were filming these movie casts. Unlike the old telecasts on PBS' Great Performances or Live from the Met, these new movie casts use three times the number of cameras. The cameras are all over the auditorium and many of them move vertically and/or horizontally so as to get better camera angles then just a straight shot. The resulting close-up images and sound are breathtaking.

This seems to be a win/win/win for everyone. The Met, while saying that the movie casts have not quite yet made money, surely believes that a profit is just around the corner either in ticket revenues or eventual DVD sales. At worst, these movie casts have immeasurably raised the image of the Met to such an extent that many other opera companies have tried to copy these movie casts to lesser results. The movie theaters are happy to fill up one or two auditoriums during the usually slow Saturday matinee time slot and sell lots of concessions. The audience pays $20 for a ticket instead of $250 at the Met for the best seat in the house for HD images and digital sound and they don't have to fly to New York. Many audiences are so thrilled by the performances that they break out into spontaneous applause as if in the opera house.

Not to be the fly in the ointment...I do worry about local small opera companies. I wonder if they will be hurt in the long term. Why go to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's production of La Traviata if you can see Renee Fleming and Ramon Vargas for $20 in a Met production. So far, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City seems to be unaffected. Maybe this will only whet the public's appetite for more live opera and The Lyric will benefit long term.

In the meantime, any opera lover would be crazy not to go see several of the offerings this season. Here is the list of this season's movie casts along with my highly opinionated thoughts on each one.

Salome – Strauss
Saturday, October 11, 2008, Noon
Starring Karita Mattila as the Biblical sexpot. Not one of my favorite operas but Mattila should be great in the role.

Doctor Atomic (Met Premiere) – Adams
Saturday, November 8, 2008, Noon
This has been critically acclaimed as a modern masterpiece about the history and creation of the first atomic bomb. However, there is no way I will subject myself to 3+ hours of John Adam’s minimalist music garbage.

La Damnation de Faust (New Production) – Berlioz
Saturday, November 22, 2008, Noon
I could be wrong, but I think this was written more as an oratorio than an opera. However, not only do I love Berlioz’ music but Susan Graham and Marcello Giordani star as Marguerite and Faust and I think they are tremendous talents who do not get near the publicity and acclaim they deserve. This should be great and I plan to be in the theatre for this one.

Photo Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Thaïs (New Production) – Massenet
Saturday, December 20, 2008, 11:00 a.m.
Thais is probably Massenet’s third most popular opera after Manon and Werther. It is a very lovely opera (with the famous Meditation) and the soprano part is supposedly extremely difficult. This performance features Renee Fleming and Thomas Hampson. I’ll be there for this one.

La Rondine (New Production) – Puccini
Saturday, January 10, 2009, Noon
This rarely performed Puccini opera has one of Puccini’s most gorgeous soprano arias (Doretta’s Dream) and this opera stars the glittery husband/wife team of Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. This opera is quite short and you should be out the door in a couple of hours.

Orfeo ed Euridice – Gluck
Saturday, January 24, 2009, Noon
I am not going to miss this one. While Gluck may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the cast includes Stephanie Blythe (wonderful mezzo) and Danielle de Niese (coming soon to a William Jewell recital at The Folly Theater) and is choreographed by Mark Morris. I don’t know if I will like this, but with a great cast and probably great direction, I think this is worth the time and money. Besides, how many chances will you get to ever see this again.

Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti
Saturday, February 7, 2009, Noon
This stars Anna Netrebko (who recently married to barihunk Irwin Schrott and who just delivered a Schrott tot) and Rolando Villazon (hopefully recovered from a vocal crisis last year) in a production updated to around 1880 or so. I saw this last year with Natalie Dessay in one of the greatest performances, both vocally and dramatically, I have ever seen despite an anachronistically odd production.

The problem is The Met should have broadcast this last year with Dessay who has the vocal chops to handle Lucia (and anything else she wants). Netrebko has a wonderful voice and is an equally great actress, but she really doesn’t have the coloratura technique to handle these type of roles (as evidenced by her Puritani a year or so ago). I would love to hear Netrebko do Boheme, Tosca, any number of Verdi or French roles. But it is an effort for her to sing coloratura and it should sound effortless. Anyway, I expect the theaters to be sold out for this one.

AMC Barrywoods 24 at 8101 NW Roanridge Road, Kansas City, MO

Madama Butterfly - Puccini
Saturday, March 7, 2009, Noon
I saw this cast and production two years ago in New York. I was never much of a Butterfly fan until that performance. To begin with, the production was absolutely stunning (you will just have to see it because I could take up a page writing about it). There was some controversy about the use of a puppet to play the child but I found that just fine. Christina Gallardo-Domas does not have one of the great soprano voices but her acting was so incredible, that I was swept into this tragedy. She was partnered by one of my favorite and underrated tenors, Marcello Giordano. The combination of the production, the music the drama and vocalism just blew me and the whole audience away. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!

La Sonnambula (New Production) - Bellini
Saturday, March 21, 2009, Noon
When I saw Natalie Dessay in Lucia, I not only thought she was a great vocalist but one of the great dramatic actresses I had ever seen. Then I saw her in Daughter of the Regiment and thought she was one of the great comic actresses I had ever seen. So as far as I am concerned, I will go hear Natalie Dessay recite the White Pages. Her costar is the wonderful Juan Diego Florez. While La Sonnambula isn't my favorite opera, DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!

La Cenerentola - Rossini
Saturday, May 9, 2009, 11:30 a.m.
I don't care what anyone says, I am boycotting this performance because it does NOT star home-town heroine and world-class mezzo, Joyce Di Donato in one of her signature roles. But for the rest of the world, Elina Garanca should do a marvelous job as Rossini's version of Cinderella.

Cinemark 14, The Palace at 500 Nichols Road, Kansas City, MO
Kansas City 18 Cinemas at 3200 Ameristar Drive, Kansas City, MO
AMC Town Center 20 at 11701 Nall Avenue, Leawood,KS
Cinemark 20 (Merriam) at 5500 Antioch Road, Merriam, KS
AMC Olathe Studio 29 with IMAX at 12075 S. Strang Line Road, Olathe, KS
Southwind 12 at 3433 Iowa Street, Lawrence, KS

By Lee Goodman

Classical Contributor (Past writer)