Met Opera Live, in English cinemas: overpriced

News that the Met’s April production of Donizetti’s La Fille Du Regiment will be broadcast live from New York onto cinema screens across England caused a flicker of excitement, particularly as the star is the wonderful French soprano Natalie Dessay in her signature role.

But, checking out the detail of the London screening, at the Barbican, I felt my excitement dissipating rapidly. The Barbican, like the other dozen or so Brit cinemas, is selling tickets for the gig at £25 each.

I’m not tempted. Not in the slightest.

Why? Well, I paid less than half that to see the same production - live, in the flesh - at the Royal Opera House in January 2007. And I have the tape of the TV broadcast from BBC Four last week. And the Radio 3 broadcast from earlier in the year. And the Met’s version will probably be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, too.

I hope to be proved wrong, but I don’t see the Met Opera Live launch season creating queues round the block. Not at those prices.

All power to the Met, and the other world-class opera houses, rolling out great product to a global audience, but they’ll probably need to revise their pricing before they get it right.



Gerry Smith