All week, the Metropolitan Opera will be showing films of performances on a screen in Lincoln Center’s central plaza for its annual Live in HD festival. The operas start at 7:45 p.m. or 8, and there are 3,000 seats set up outside. But be aware: the choicest seats have sometimes been reserved far in advance by seat-grabbers who place items on them.
Carmen — apparently the most popular performance in Live in HD history — is showing on Sunday starting at 8. See the whole schedule here.
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The seat grabbing thing is over.
Security gets rid of those.
Also, if you get there early, sit down, and think because you’re actually physically present, you can save the two seats next to you, that doesn’t work either. Either a UWS curmudgeon will inform you of the rules and take a seat and/or security will kick you out of your seat for trying to save another seat.
I was just recently at a dance event in that Lincoln Center space; everyone around me was saving at least 2 or 3 seats; and no security guard objected. The only objection I witnessed was when one fellow left his bag on a seat and asked the person sitting next to that seat to watch it while he got the rest of his stuff, left elsewhere. As soon as he left, the whole row, including the man who agreed to watch his bag, got up and left to join others, who’d been holding seats as well. Security came by and saw an unattended bag sitting on the chair, rounded up the fellow when he returned and gave him a VERY hard time about leaving a bag unattended.
Thanks
Carmelite was extraordinary. Thank you so much.