Where’s the Met? At Your Local Movie Theater

New York’s Metropolitan Opera House is a magnificent venue that showcases some of the world’s best performances of opera. It was even featured in several scenes in the movie Moonstruck, in which one of Cher’s lines to Nicolas Cage was: “Where’s the Met?” 

Local residents can find their way to the Met—via the big screen—at the AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills, where a live Met broadcast of Richard Strauss’ one-act opera Capriccio will be presented at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Movie-theater showings of the Met operas—which were inaugurated in 2006—are strictly limited to venues with satellite-based, digital high-definition systems for projections, such as the AMC Promenade. Just as with regular movies at the AMC, people can buy popcorn, snacks and drinks.

The Met's "Live in HD" program was pioneered by Met General Manager Peter Gelb to revitalize the art form in the U.S. According to the Met website, the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series "has sold nearly five million tickets since its inception in December 2006 and is currently seen on more than 1,300 screens in 45 countries across six continents.”

Strauss' Capriccio is set in Paris in about 1775, when opera itself was undergoing reforms. Subtitled "A conversation piece with music," the work delves into the question of which is more important in opera: words or music. In the story, two men, a poet and a composer, argue over two ideals: the merits of their respective arts and of a certain Countess. Who shall prevail? Who will get the lady? And who, like the Countess, wonders if the entire question is just silly?

 Find out Saturday at 10 a.m. at this presentation of The Metropolitan Opera: Capriccio, by Richard Strauss, at the AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills. Running time: Three hours, 25 minutes. Ticket prices vary; for information, call the theater at 818-883-2262.