And now to The Met.....The Other Met

New York, New York

So today I decided that I needed to hit The Met.....and this time I am referring to the Opera. Of course it isn't Opera season (that doesn't start until the fall) which is too bad because I cannot think of anything cooler right now than seeing an Opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. I am not sure if I will be here in the fall so I decided I needed to go see whatever was showing. It has been raining on and off the last few days so an inside plan was a good plan.

A look at the outside of the Metropolitan Opera House. I wish I had pictures of the inside but they don't let you take pictures inside.

So I got online last night to check out what was showing....the verdict this weekend, Giselle. Now in case you did not know Giselle is a ballet and it happens to be the oldest continually performed ballet in the world. The world premiere occurred at the Theatre de L'Academie Royale de Musique in Paris on June 28, 1841. Most major ballet companies have Giselle in their repertoire ready to show it whenever called upon to do so.


Now ballet is a very new thing to me. I have only been to the ballet one other time with mom, a few years ago when we decided it was time to see The Nutcracker on stage. The story is a lot harder to follow than a play or a musical because of course there is no talking or singing....just dancing. I skimmed over the story before it started so I would have an idea what was happening.....I really should have read it though because I did get lost in the middle and totally missed (spoiler alert) that Giselle dies at the end of the first act (of a broken heart by the way). I used the intermission to have some Rose Champagne (it is The Met after all) and read up on what I had just seen in the first act and what was to follow in the second.



How did I like it? Well I must say the first act seemed to be missing something.....dancing. There was much more wandering around and emotional facial expressions than there was actual ballet. I was a little disappointed. However, the second act started with dancing.....and ended with dancing as well. Oh and there was lots of dancing in between. Seriously, every ballet stereotype you can think of (white crinoline tutus, flowers, leaps and turns and other ballet things) were all present. I even found myself smiling.....truly enjoying what I was seeing.

No, I did not take this picture during the show. In fact I didn't take this picture at all. I found it online. This is a picture of Ximara Reyes performing Giselle. I was suppose to see her, however she was injured and the role was actually performed by Maria Riccetto.

Of course I know nothing about ballet and have no appreciation for how hard or amazing things were but when the crowd applauded I did too. The things I thought were great were not always what the ballet knowledgeable crowd seemed to know were great but whatever...I had a great time. And the atmosphere that is the Metropolitan Opera House is amazing. I really hope I will also be able to experience an Opera here.


So all in all a great way to spend an afternoon. Although I do have to add that whoever decided to put male ballet dancers in nude coloured tights was seriously disturbed.


Julie