The Metropolitan Opera, which has made its opening nights more open in recent years by offering free outdoor simulcasts, said Tuesday that it was canceling the free screening in the plaza in front of the opera house this year but would be adding more seats to the one in Times Square.
The Lincoln Center simulcast is being canceled to save money for the Met, which has been facing serious financial difficulties. It will change some of the feeling of opening night: in recent years 2,000 people have thronged the plaza outside the opera house to watch simulcasts of the operas being performed inside, and to gawk at the passing parade of stars and opera patrons.
It will be quieter there for this year’s Sept. 21 opening night performance, which will feature a new production of Verdi’s “Otello” conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, directed by Bartlett Sher, and starring Aleksandrs Antonenko, Sonya Yoncheva and Zeljko Lucic.
But the transmission to Times Square will be continued and expanded a bit. Roughly 500 additional seats will be added for the free simulcast there, where a total of 2,000 seats will be set up at two locations: between 43rd and 44th Streets and at Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets. (That screening is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, among others.)
There will be a chance this year for some people to get discounted seats to experience opening night live. For the first time the Met will offer discounted rush tickets to its opening gala: it plans to offer 100, $25 orchestra seats online for the performance. The Met has not yet announced when the discounted tickets would go on sale; orchestra seats are being sold for $400 to $700.