A Night at the Opera!

Hey everybody, summer’s back (!) and it’s time for some festive cultural activities besides just getting out and pounding the trails. So, let’s start off with the much requested “night at the opera” at the fabulous MET Opera in NYC’s Lincoln Center. The opera “on the bill” is the very “crowd pleasing” – and very “crowd accessible” (you don’t have to be a “hard core” opera buff to “dig it”) – “Turandot”, an operatic rendering of a Chinese fairy tale by that real “crowd pleaser”, himself, Giacomo Puccini (synopsis). The performance we’ll see is on Thursday, June 4, at 7:30 PM. We’ll have a pre-performance dinner at a nice (and not-too-pricey) Chinese restaurant near Columbus Circle, The Blue Willow, at 40 W 56th St. If you cannot make the dinner, then get to the fountain in the center of the Plaza at 7:00 PM and we’ll meet up with you there.

The cost of a ticket in the “Family Circle” section is a “crowd pleasing” and “crowd accessible” $57 ($47 + $10 online purchase fee). You can purchase a ticket here. On the right side of the seating chart that pops up, click on the “Family Circle” link. Then, choose a seat and click on it to purchase it. Your host has already purchased seats 202, 204, 206 and 208 in Row H. So, get a seat nearby and we can keep our group more or less together. Post in a comment below the number of the seat you get. Make your purchase ASAP as tickets are selling fast and seats in this entire section will be gone within the next few days.

So, we’ll meet up at the Blue Willow restaurant at 5:00 PM. After dinner, at 6:30 PM, we’ll walk the 9/10 mile to Lincoln Center. For those who cannot make the dinner, we’ll all meet up at the fountain in the center of the Plaza at 7:00 PM. Participants are encouraged to “dress smart,” e.g., no t-shirts, jeans and/or flip-flops, but, “black tie” and “evening gowns” are not required either.

Those who would like to “train pool” into the City, can meet up at Newark Penn Station at 4:00 PM and catch the North Jersey Coast Train #3256 at 4:09 PM. After arriving at Penn Station in New York at 4:30 PM, they can walk over to Herald Square and take the F subway train to 57th St. and then walk 3 minutes to the restaurant at 40 W 56th St.