Saturday at The Met

At dinner in a restaurant this afternoon, Mom declared solemnly, "I achieved one of my life's dreams today."

As a girl, she had read a book about a woman who grew up in New York City and eventually took her granddaughter to see an opera at The Met. Mom, who didn't have anyone who would accompany her to things like that, dreamt of taking her own granddaughter someday.

Mom didn't grow up with Classical music or opera, but it attracted her whenever she heard it. Dad acquired his appreciation from an older brother. As a young couple my parents heard Arthur Rubinstein perform in Detroit. My brothers weren't much interested, but I inherited the love. My parents and I always had season's tickets to the Windsor Symphony, attended performances of Gilbert and Sullivan by the Windsor Light Opera, and the National Ballet whenever it came to town.

We didn't pay as much attention to opera. I can count on one hand the number of operas I've seen live: La Cenerentola and a much slimmed-down version of La Bohéme. Most memorable (and most recent) was a dress rehearsal for a Canadian Opera Company performance of Tosca, which a friend took me to see some 20 years ago. Still, I have come to enjoy opera more and more over the years.

For Christmas Mom and Dad gave me The Best Opera Album in the World...Ever!, a two CD set of favourite arias. I knew most of them until an unfamiliar one came on, by Mescagni. To my surprise, Marian hummed along. She couldn't tell me where she had heard it.

"I didn't know you liked opera," I said.

"I like everything," she replied.

It so happened my parents had given her a reference guide to the great operas.

And today they took all three of us to see an historic event at SilverCity Windsor Cinemas. For the first time, the Metropolitan Opera broadcast its Saturday afternoon performance live to big screens across North America and in several European countries. This is scheduled to become a regular feature at select movie theatres. Locally, it will be offered by Galaxy Cinemas in Waterloo. This seems a big improvement on the famous radio broadcasts. Personally I'm not interested in sitting and listening to opera on Saturday afternoons, but given the opportunity to watch one for a fraction of the traditional ticket cost, I will go. Opera is largely spectacle, after all.

The Met chose Mozart's The Magic Flute for its pilot broadcast, which would not have been my first choice. The music is good, but only a few melodies are memorable, notably the Queen of the Night's famous aria (performed brilliantly today by Erika Miklósa), and several of Papageno's playful and ribald tunes. The story is bizarre; Mozart died barely two months after its premiere, without much opportunity to explain his intentions, so although the opera makes obvious references to Freemasonry, its meaning remains somewhat arcane. Most attractive is the character of Papageno the bird-tamer, an archetypical fool and everyman, who declines to follow his master through purification by fire and water, aspiring instead to simple pleasures of beer, food and wife.

On the other hand, The Magic Flute lends itself easily to spectacle. The most remarkable feature of today's performance was the production and costume design by Julie Taymor, who won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design in the stage adaptation of The Lion King. Her colourful and playful treatments brought life to the stage. Overall, today's was an enjoyable performance, and I look forward to attending more operas on the big screen in coming months, particularly Eugene Onegin, and The Barber of Seville. For more information, read The Metropolitan Opera goes to the movies.

Mom confessed she didn't know how she would ever achieve her dream, but today she did, taking not just one granddaughter but two. And the girls for their part seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. Marian came to look over my shoulder at the list of Canadian movie theatres where The Met broadcasts will appear.