Text excerpts by Javier C. Hernández read the full story here.
After eight minutes of applause, the curtain had dropped for a final time, and many members of the cast of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the first opera by a Black composer in the 138-history of the Metropolitan Opera, began to cry.
“This is crazy,” said Terence Blanchard, the composer, as he embraced singers, dancers and musicians backstage during opening night on Monday. “This is amazing.”
The Met was finally back, more than a year and a half after the pandemic had forced it to close — costing the company $150 million in revenues, prompting it to furlough most of its workers without pay and raising, once again, pressing questions about how opera can survive its latest challenges. It was during the long shutdown, as the nation confronted racial injustice with renewed urgency after the police killing of George Floyd, that the company switched gears and chose “Fire,” which had been slated for a later season, for the gala opening night that would mark its return to the opera house.
It was not only the long-overdue breaking of a racial barrier that made the choice of “Fire” notable: it was also the first time that the Met had opened a season with a work by a living composer since 1966, when it moved into its Lincoln Center home with Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra.” But it fits very much with the strategy of Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager, who has been trying to attract new and more diverse audiences to offset the Met’s recent box-office declines and to revive interest in opera with new, buzzy productions — a need that grew more urgent with the pandemic.
“It’s all about keeping the art form alive,” Gelb said in an interview. “We’re firing on all cylinders right now trying to make opera accessible for the broadest number of people.”
Kenneth Floyd, a member of the Met’s chorus who performed in “Fire,” worked at a disinfection company for part of the pandemic. The chorus stayed in touch by Zoom, with singers giving each other encouragement and sharing tips on filling out applications for unemployment.
“It was like 18 months of being away from your family, your baby, and it’s like all of a sudden we’re finally back together,” said Floyd, 46.
As he put on his wig and glanced over his music on Monday, Floyd, who is Black, remembered performing in recitals when he was a child and only seeing a few people of color in the audience: his relatives. He said the performance felt different because of new faces in the auditorium.
In the auditorium, Mercedes Valdes, an usher since 1978, stuffed programs and greeted longtime patrons. She said the reopening of the Met after the shutdown was one of the most memorable moments in her career, on par with hearing Luciano Pavarotti.
Valdes, who identifies as Afro Cuban, said she was heartened to see the face of the baritone Will Liverman, who is Black, on the cover of the programs.
“A lot of people of color feel excluded,” she said. “This is a good start because it’s really going to make history.”
The Met’s die-hard fans cheered the return of live opera, applauding at the start of the performance as the crystal chandeliers receded to the ceiling and the lights began to fade.
Shari Smith, a former clarinetist in the U.S. Army Field Band, traveled from her home in Maryland for opening night, which coincided with her 59th birthday. She made a dress for the occasion featuring images of the Met.
“I missed the music, the costumes, the creativity — everything,” Smith said.
