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A lot of NYU students know how to get cheap tickets to musicals on Broadway and TV tapings through rushing. But if you want $20 Metropolitan Opera tickets, would you know where to look?
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The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center seats approximately 3,800 patrons.
Thanks to certain generous Metropolitan Opera patrons, rush tickets for performances go for $20, if you can handle the wait.
CAS sophomore Yonadav Tsuna does.
Tsuna's went to the opera for the first time last year with the Baird Honors Program at NYU. He said he loved it so much, he has been going several times a week ever since; several binders in his room are completely filled with opera Playbills.
It's an intense pastime.
When he's not rushing, he attends the opera for free with Jay Rosenberg, a patron he met on his first trip last year.
"If you're a regular, you get to meet a lot of the patrons," Tsuna said.
The student rush can get you tickets for about $26, but Tsuna prefers to do the regular rush. Regular rush tickets are provided by opera patrons who buy 200 seats in the orchestra every year and then donate the tickets to the cheaper rush line. These patrons, such as alumna Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman, wanted to make opera affordable for a wider, budget-conscious audience by providing a larger block of cheaper seats for last-minute purchase.
"You save about six bucks, and you get to meet cool people in line," Tsuna said. "And then you get a seat in the orchestra, which is the closest section to the stage."
How-to-guide:
1 p.m. Enter the front door of the Met at Lincoln Center and someone will lead you to the rush line. Try to look cultured. Ladies, wear a nice dress. Gents, wear a suit and tie. Look dapper. Also, bring a book to read.
3:30 p.m. Have a friend switch places with you in line so that you can take a break. Bring snacks and some water.
6 p.m. Tickets are distributed at $20 per person. In the rush line you can get up to two tickets per person.
6 to 8 p.m. Hang out, enjoy the glamour of the Lincoln Center area, get coffee (but don't drink too much; there aren't bathroom breaks during the three-and-a-half-hour-long performances).
8 p.m. Curtain time.
The opera is like coffee or wine; it takes a while to develop a taste for it. So, it may hurt a little, but step outside of the Village for a night and head up to the Met. Who knows, you might take to it like Tsuna did.
Christopher
Nov 10, 2009
12:28 a.m.
I've been to about 40-50 operas over my years at NYU, I have never been to one at the Met which is 3 and a half hours with no breaks. Unless they are less than 2 hours, they generally have one, if not two intermissions.
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