One isn't supposed to take pictures inside the Metropolitan Opera, but I was in the orchestra yesterday - so far from my usual perch in the Family Circle that the air pressure even feels different - and couldn't resist. I was there for the premiere of American Ballet Theater's new ballet for the season, "Lady of the Camellias," choreographed in the 1970s to music of Chopin (piano solo and concerto) by an American in Europe, John Neumeier, in a manner both classical and contemporary. I'm not sure it entirely succeeded - some of the lifts seemed more difficult than beautiful, women were routinely dumped on the ground (or rolled over by men), and the action often upstaged the dancing - but I could get used to seeing the stars at eye level!
