vip in the city

The Met for the masses

Wasn’t there just a street fair along Seventh Avenue? Yes, I believe there was.

On the way home after work, I passed Josie Robertson Plaza, still set up to accommodate the droves of people who turned out for free tickets to the Metropolitan Opera’s Open House, which took place yesterday.

Tickets for the Open House were distributed first-come first-served at the Met Box Office beginning at 10:00AM on Wednesday morning. For the first time in its 123 year history, the Met invited the public to a final dress rehearsal, offering a preview of the highly anticipated new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Included on the program was a box lunch and a panel discussion with cast members and the show’s director, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Anthony Minghella. Attendees were offered the opportunity to head backstage for a behind the scenes look at the Met, to examine production sketches and set models, and to take individual walks across the famed stage. So cool!

It still amazes me the lengths to which New Yorkers will go to gain access to events like these. With a program lineup like that, though, it was no wonder that the crowds descended. I would have loved to be right there with them, but sadly, despite living just a few short blocks away, I couldn’t justify taking the time off. Just as well: news reports were that the first arrivals lined up for tickets the night before, camping out on the stone plaza ground for a free shot at those $375 seats. All 3,000 tickets were gone by noon.

The Met’s Open House, which garnered quite a bit of media coverage, was intended to generate interest in the new season and spur ticket sales, which suffered a dramatic drop-off during the 2001-2002 season and steadily declined to last year’s new low of 77% capacity. As part of the plan to broaden opera’s appeal to younger audiences, new General Manager Peter Gelb also reduced ticket prices for the least expensive seats –- thanks to which I have season tickets this year — and orchestrated six high-definition video simulcasts to be shown in over 100 specially-equipped movie theaters in the United States, Canada and Europe, and 500 long-dormant historic opera recordings to be broadcast on Sirius Radio.

Coming soon to a movie theater near you… six matinees will be presented live this season: beginning on December 30, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, directed by Julie Taymor and conducted by James Levine; Bellini’s I Puritani on Jan. 6; the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor, with Placido Domingo in the title role, on Jan. 13; Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, with Renee Fleming, on Feb. 24; a new staging of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville on March 24; and a new production of Puccini’s Il Trittico, conducted by Levine, on April 28.

Doctors without boundaries

I was back at the Rubin Museum of Art on Friday night for the Artists on Art presentation by Shen Wei, the choreographer behind New York-based contemporary dance company Shen Wei Dance Arts. Wei and one of the RMA guides gave a brief talk about mandalas — the graphic representations of the universe in Hindu or Buddhist culture. The museum had several of the intricate circle-within-a-square images on display. Chinese-born Wei explained how he drew upon the variety of the mandalas he came across on a recent trip to Tibet as inspiration for the dance forms he used in Re-, (Part I), his performance work based on the spirituality of Tibetan culture which is being performed at the Joyce Theater September 26 through October 1, 2006. Also in attendance that evening was Ani Choying Drolma, the Tibetan nun who sings the music in the show.

I wandered through the galleries, spending more time at the whimsical Flying Mystics exhibition, with its focus on depictions of flight in Buddhist paintings and sculptures. The top (sixth) floor had just opened a new, interesting-looking exhibition last week: I See No Stranger: Early Sikh Art and Devotion for which the museum had printed and bound stacks of impressively detailed gallery guides. A tour would have required a lot more time to explore than I had that evening, though. The exhibit runs through January 29, 2007, so I have time to come back.

On my way out I stopped to check in on RMA Artist in Residence Pema Rinzin and the progress of his painted mural, The Guardian Kings, since the last time I was at the museum.

Afterwards, it was a leisurely stroll from the museum for a light dinner at “posh pita parlour” Chickpea — just a couple of storefronts down from my namesake dumpling purveyor, the Union Square outpost of Dumpling House on Eldridge. I was just washing down my very first shawafel (shawarma + falafel = pretty good!) with lemonade when SYB and HYB arrived from their first party of the evening. It was still a bit too early for the three of us to head over to CP’s birthday bash at Kabin, so we wandered the aisles of Trader Joe’s for a while, picking up some dark chocolate-covered espresso beans along the way.

Later in the East Village, I ran into JL, with whom I had spent some time last year during the series of J’s wedding events. Her cousin is CP’s fiancé — small world. Also notably, I experienced what may have been the most horrifying pick-up banter ever. Hard to say which was most galling: the unabashed arrogance, the jaw-dropping inappropriateness, or the crass directives involving cupcake frosting. Wow… seriously? After that, I was ready to go home. The B brothers insisted on accompanying me out, for which I felt a little bit guilty about cutting short their stay. But at least SYB got his mojo back with a dancer from the other party.

Christie’s auction preview and Shawn Colvin

I attended the Christie’s preview reception for their upcoming auction: “First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art” — not “40 years of Star Trek: The Collection” (which takes place early next month) as the wise guys among you had surmised.

But for all you fanboys:

40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection
September 25 – October 3
Rockefeller Center Concourse

Christie’s presents 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection at auction October 5th-7th. The sale will offer an extraordinary array of property from one of the most groundbreaking and iconic film and television series in history. Items include costumes, props, weapons, artwork, rare furniture, accessories and more, encompassing Star Trek’s prolific 40 year history. Before going to auction, selected items will be on display in the Rockefeller Center Concourse from September 25th-October 3rd.

Edited to add: Admission to the viewing will be via purchase of a $90(!) or $500(!!) auction catalogue or by $25 “Star Pass” only.

M(LF), KP and I headed inside to the galleries together, and wandered among the artwork for auction, plastic wineglasses of chardonnay in hand. Pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Willem de Kooning… and a lot of others I didn’t recognize. As usual, some of the stuff was downright bizarre: like Tony Feher’s installation of plastic bottles, water, food dye, wire and rope (estimated at $20,000-30,000.)

Here, Rikrit Tiravanija’s silkscreened tent, titled Atlas (a seeming bargain at $5,000-7,000 – and you can sleep in it.) On the left wall, in peach, Imi Knoebel’s Siebeneck (Seven Corners) — enamel on shaped panel, valued at $20,000-$30,000.

Afterwards, there was a private tour and a concert in the “Artist Den” upstairs. Before the main act, we screened taped performances from similar past events: Regina Spektor at The Angel Orensanz Foundation (one of the prettiest event spaces in New York) and Martha Wainwright on the stage we were watching. Finally: Shawn Colvin emerged, looking pretty darned good for her 50 years.

Right before the show, KP reminded me that Colvin’s biggest commercial success was for her single “Sunny Came Home.” All week I had somehow gotten it into my head that she was the artist behind “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” Turns out that’s Paula Cole – so uh, whoops. Both songs were nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1998 Grammys — incidentally, Colvin won in both categories –- so the confusion is at least a little bit understandable. Paula Cole took Best New Artist that year.

Colvin had a charming, self-deprecating stage presence –- at one point, attempting and quickly abandoning a cover of The Carpenters “I Won’t Last A Day Without You.” She closed out her show with “I Don’t Know Why,” which KP was brave enough to shout out when Colvin asked for requests. Good thing I didn’t ask for “the Cowboy song.”