The Don lives

Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecień returned to the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”  a mere two weeks after having surgery on a herniated disc, aggravated during a rehearsal for The Metropolitan Opera’s new production. In an interview during a rebroadcast of “The Met: Live in HD” transmission, seen recently at City Center 15: Cinema de Lux in White Plains and venues worldwide, Kwiecień (KVEE tchen) told host Renée Fleming that he’s been singing the Don – who spends a lot of time exerting himself with the ladies – for nine years.

“Gee,” one City Center attendee whispered to her friend, “no wonder he hurt his back.”

Yes, that’s one of the many treats of experiencing  the “Live in HD” simulcasts: The (mostly senior) audience is almost as delicious as the operas.

For the uninitiated, The Met began simulcasting select productions into venues likes City Center, Regal New Roc Stadium 18 & IMAX in New Rochelle, Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center and The Ridgefield Playhouse in 2006, adding locations worldwide and increasing the number of offerings each year. What might’ve appeared to be counterintuitive – taking audiences away from the opera house itself – turned out to be a stroke of genius on the part of Met General Manager Peter Gelb, the former SONY Classical president (and son of onetime New York Times’ managing editor Arthur Gelb) who started out at The Met as a teen usher and took over the top job four months before launching “Live in HD.” Since then, the series has sold nearly eight million tickets, while the 2011–12 season is being seen on more than 1,500 screens in more than 50 countries across six continents. Not only has “Live in HD” not detracted from The Met audience, it has helped the opera house to thrive at a time when other big cultural institutions are struggling.

It’s not surprising: The Nov. 16 rebroadcast of “Don Giovanni” at City Center alone filled two sold-out theaters, which is typical of the simulcasts. At roughly $20 a ticket, “Live in HD” is infinitely cheaper and more convenient than attending performances at The Met. Although nothing can replace the experience of being there, “Live in HD” has its own pleasures – the visceral thrill of the big screen, intermission interviews with the production principals that take viewers behind the scenes and ushers who hand out program material and cater to the audience’s every whim.

That audience is, again not surprisingly, overwhelming post-AARP, which is both a challenge and a delight. Get there early. This is a tough crowd that likes to stake out the best perches and looks askance at saving seats for latecomers. On the other hand, senior opera-goers – Sadly, is there any other kind these days? – bring sophisticated tastes to viewership. You didn’t have to explain to this group that “Non più andrai” from Wolfgang’s “The Marriage of Figaro” makes a guest appearance in “Don G’s” chilling climactic party scene. The seniors were laughing in recognition before Leporello, the Don’s cowering servant, sang: “I know this tune.”

Best of all, none of the musical and sexual complexity of “Don G” was lost either on the City Center throng or on The Met production, which has been given a Spanish Old Masters look by director Michael Grandage (who did the Broadway “Hamlet” with Jude Law).  The opera was beautifully sung by an A-list cast featuring Marina Rebeka, Barbara Frittoli, Luca Pisarino and Ramón Vargas, with Fabio Luisi, The Met’s new principal conductor, at the podium.

As for the Don himself, Kwiecień brought his impeccable baritone and an Errol Flynn swagger to the part.

Apparently, his back is all better.

Performances of “Don Giovanni” continue in February and March at The Metropolitan Opera with Gerald Finley, so compelling as J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic,” as the rakish Don. For ticket information, click on to http://www.metoperafamily.org/opera/don-giovanni-mozart-tickets.aspx.