A few months ago, a couple I know that lives in Boston asked if I would be interested in joining some friends and them for dinner and a night at The Metropolitan Opera in NYC to see La Traviata. La Traviata is a famous opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Most people will instantly recognize the melody from its most famous song: “Brindisi” as it has been used in countless commercials.
Armed with the knowledge that it would be a late night, I decided to book a stay at the Hilton in NYC, the same place my friends were staying. The drive in was uneventful, until I was one-quarter block from the hotel parking entrance. It took me 45 minutes to make my way the 50 yards to the parking garage as there were five yellow school buses lined up all dropping children and their chaperones off at the entrance. When I finally entered the parking garage, I gathered my overnight suitcase and waited outside the car for the attendant to check me in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman approaching on the street wearing a very interesting and beautiful coat. As she passed, I said: “Hey that is a gorgeous coat”, to which she responded “F*** you!”. Welcome to NYC.
I checked in via the HIlton Honors app and awaited the notification that my “digital key” was ready. As a wandered around the busttling lobby, I saw a sign that there was a “Model UN” taking place in the hotel, which accounted for the school bus loads of kids being dropped off. Their behavior was anything but “model” as they were quite raucous and had definitely not learned any elevator etiquette - pushing their way onto the elevators before allowing those exiting to leave first. Insert joke about Epic being old.
I made it up to my room and was not surprised at the size thereof:
After arriving in the room, I took a quick shower and got ready to meet everyone downstairs in the lobby so we could head out for dinner at Becco.
The restaurant was nicely appointed and bustling with diners. The waiter brought over some warm bread and breadsticks and, although we were all lsot in conversation (a few of the people joining us, including my friend, all sing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and, once they found out that I compose music well, the conversation flowed. I ordered an old standby, chicken parmagiana . The waiter first brought everone a nice Caesar salad and, when the entree arrived, which was crisp without oozing oil, it was worth the wait as it was simply delicious.
We still had plenty of time before we had to be at The Met so we stayed and relaxed whiel enjoying the conversation. Afterwards, we headed outside and called an Uber. However, after about 10 minutes, we all realized we were well beyond Lincoln Center and aksed the driver where he thought we were going. Apparently, my friends’ friend who called the Uber accidentally put in the wrong address. Once that wwas figured out, we were on our way. A few minutes later, we arrived at Lincoln Center.
There was some drama between a daughter and her mother while walking through the mall towards the entrance. The daughter was cursing her mother out but good and told her to go to the opera herself and stormed off. I hope they reconciled.
Once inside, we went through security and scanned our tickets. It was onward into the theatre:
The seats were incredible, about 10 rows back in the center. The theatre is so ornate and wonderfully decorated. The performances inspired me - attending live music events usually affects me in that way and I look forward to drawing from that inspiration as I continue to write music.
Afterwards, we ventured down the street and found somewhere to have some dessert - we all had cheesecake and it was a great way to end the evening. We walked back to the hotel thereafter and all retired to our respective rooms.
All in all, a great time with friends and getting to experience a world-class opera.