Eugene Onegin opens at the Met Monday night, starring Met darlings Mariusz Kwiecien and Anna Netrebko.
A wonderful small tradition has emerged on Twitter that occurs round about the third Monday in September.
Not everyone can attend opening night in Lincoln Center or watch it in Times Square. Here’s the next best thing:
An Opening Night TwitFest.
Many opera junkies in the U.S. and across the pond listen to the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night via Live Stream while meeting up on Twitter to dish about the production, the performers.
Sounds like fun? You have no idea how much fun it is. Word! We’re talking star power, sex appeal, gossip, innuendo, admiration, infatuation–all expressed in 140 characters with the hashtag #MetOn.
The fun begins with the Met Opera interns who Tweet photos of the glitterati arriving for Opening Night. Some look better than others dressed to the nines. It’s even entertaining if they’re a bit of an eyesore.
To say that listeners are enraptured is an understatement. One Twitter listener photographed himself doing pirouhettes and shared the pic. Retweets abound.
It took a while for the Metropolitan Opera to catch on that they should float a hashtag in advance of the event, so we could all find each other.
But they finally got their you-know-what together and eventually they started publicizing #MetOn in advance of the event and even using it themselves. Better late than never.
I’m glad there’s a dedicated hashtag so that we can easily find each other. But this is an evening not to be missed. Since we are listening only, we’ll miss all the expected directorial gaffes.
So, I hope to see you on Twitter Monday night, September 23, 6:30! Netrebko, Kwiecien, Valery Gergiev conducting.
The Met is definitely On.
