Hello,
anyone could help me in choosing the right places for the met? I am between side parterre boxes, really in the front, like the first or second box, or the grand tier front, little bit lateral. What do you think?
Thanks

My personal take is that you want to be as close to the center as possible. Too much to the side and you might miss some of the action that is taking place on your side of the stage but out of view.

The difference between the parterre and grand tier is minimum in terms of height as compared to being in the "nose bleed" section.

The seats are not staggered in the Met, so if you have a big person or a person with a large hairdo in front, you could possibly have quite a bit of the stage blocked from your view. A bit "lateral" would help instead of dead center.

Hope this helps.

Side Parterre boxes have a pretty restricted view of the stage, even the ones farthest from the stage. Center Parterre (we sit in Box 18) is, of course, fine. The Grand Tier is far more steeply raked than the Parterre (the Dress Circle even more so), so center GT seats, even off-center, should be fine; I'd go with them.

Incidentally, we attended the final dress rehearsal of the new <i>Don Carlo</i> last week, sitting in the Dress Circle. The seats were fine, and the production and cast are outstanding. It is to be broadcast live in HD on December 11. Try to see it.

I've found the boxes a dicey place to sit. We've sat for years in the first three rows of the Grand Tier.... never in the Center... but our seats are always fine. The closer you sit to the front the more you can see the orchestra in action.

I seconed bspielman's suggestion of Grand Tier front. You WILL get restricted view from the side Paterre boxes.

bspielman, FWIW, I was at Don Carlo premiere last night. I wrote a short bit about it in the Opera chat thread in the Lounge (if you click on my screen name, you can find it easily). Just wondering what you thought of the dress rehearsal.

I just got around to read some of the reviews. Of NYT's TT, Washington Post's Ms Midgette, and FT's Martin Bernheimer reviews, I find myself agreeing most with Ms Midgette's take.

Re <i>Don Carlo</i> (the final dress of which was, by the way, in every way identical to an actual performance, except for the informal attire of the orchestra and conductor): We were considerably more enthusiastic about the cast than many of the reviewers. Alagna started out roughly, but got much better as the opera wore on. The others, we thought, were outstanding. And, we were impressed with Nézet-Séguin's conducting.

In the opening Fountainbleau act, with its stylized trees and stark black and white staging, I initially feared that we were about to experience another of the Met's minimalist productions. However, the subsequent use of lighting, color and shadows greatly enhanced the mostly symbolic sets. And, despite the relative simplicity of the settings in this production, I felt there was a tremendous contrast between the characterization of a monarch here, where King Philip entered though the doors of a cathedral, and the recent new <i>Boris Godunov</i>, where Boris showed up looking like he had just left a Macy's dressing room.

And, speaking of monarchs, Ferrucio Furlanetto virtually stole the show as Philip. His stage presence and voice were riveting (presaged for us by his appearance last Sunday night at the Tucker Gala singing, among other things, "This Nearly was Mine" from <i>South Pacific</i> in a tremendously affecting performance).

By all means, try to see the December 11 broadcast.