Metropolitan Opera Gala

In the golden days of yore, the opening night of TheMetropolitan Opera heralded the beginningof the new social season; in 2021 there ismore competition including the gala opening nights ofthe New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall. The Met has been dark for nearly two years sothe premiere of TerenceBlanchard’sFire Shut Up in MyBones—the first opera by a Blackcomposer ever performed by the Met was a reason to dress up and rejoice. The guest list haschangeddramatically from the high society queens comprised of Astor’s, Rockefellers;Mellon’s, and Whitney’s dressed up in gowns by Dior, Channel, Balenciaga,Madame Grès,andCharles James. Instead, the night drew “The New Mix” including Laverne Cox, DrewBarrymore, Spike Lee, Camille A. Brown, Don Lemon, Ricky Ian Gordon, Marisa Tomei andMarco Calvani,Grace Gummer and Mark Ronson,and Charles M. Blow the subject of the opera.The night raised over $3.3 million. A revolving list of classic and new works will beperformedthrough June 2022.metopera.org