Scene Last Night: Met Opera Opening Night Gala Draws Protesters

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On opening night of New York's Metropolitan Opera, as cast members prepared to sing, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a principal at Bernstein Global Wealth Management, stood on a platform across the street.

'We are going to be back here every night until the set is burned to the ground,' Wiesenfeld said into the microphone.

He spoke to a crowd of at least several hundred people assembled outside the Lincoln Center yesterday to protest the Met's decision to mount a production of the opera ' The Death of Klinghoffer ' for eight performances beginning Oct. 20.

Demonstrators contend that the work, based on actual events of 1985, is anti-Semitic in depicting Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists hijacking a ship and killing Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish man, then tossing him overboard in his wheelchair. The opera has stirred similar criticism since it was first staged in 1991 in Brussels, though some critics have said the main problem is with the work itself, for its lack of action.

The Metropolitan Opera said in a statement that it won't bow to pressure. It called the composer, John Adams, 'one of our country's greatest' and the opera 'one of his towering achievements.'

'The fact that Klinghoffer grapples with the complexities of an unconscionable real-life act of violence does not mean it should not be performed,' it said. 'Klinghoffer is neither anti-Semitic nor does it glorify terrorism.'

Casting Shame

As the hour of the curtain approached for last night's performance of 'The Marriage of Figaro,' protesters moved closer to the area where guests arrived.

'Shame on you,' demonstrators shouted to people entering, including John Veronis, a Met advisory director. He paused, turned around and fired back. 'Shame on YOU!' he said.

On the Grand Tier, Ann Ziff, the chairman of the Met Opera, said she and the soprano Renee Fleming had walked past about 20 feet of protesters.

'This is an incredibly challenging time in the Middle East, so I'm not surprised this is happening,' Fleming said. 'I think it's incredibly positive that people have come out and said they feel so strongly and passionate about this piece. It's a great statement of what art can do.'

Vice Chairman Mercedes Bass said she always arrives through the stage door so had missed seeing the demonstration.

'Everyone has the right to express their feelings,' she said. 'I don't have to listen to them.'

Red Carpet

Inside the opera house, it felt like business as usual -- for a Met gala. Actresses Patricia Clarkson and Gina Gershon arrived off the red carpet, as did designers Thom Browne and Zac Posen. There were champagne flutes in hand and the Met's iconic sparkling chandeliers. Jemima Kirke of the HBO show 'Girls' was perched on the balcony of the Grand Tier, taking it all in as Wall Street leaders including Bruce Kovner, Willem Kooyker and Doris Meister mingled. KKR & Co. (KKR)'s Henry Kravis, hedge-fund manager John Paulson and billionaire David Koch were spotted too.

Beauty entrepreneur Julie Macklowe said she proudly told the protesters that she's Jewish. Harold Connolly, a professor of geology at City University of New York wearing a kilt, said he had no idea what the protest was about.

Demonstrators congregated for about two hours sharing their messages, with Wiesenfeld serving as a moderator, bringing up speakers to the stage including Michael Mukasey, former U.S. attorney general, and Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League.

'What's Next?'

Barbara Konigsberg of Queens, a school psychologist, carried a sign that read 'Tenors and Terrorists Don't Mix.' Other signs had a message with a broader brush, like the one that read 'PLO Hamas Al-Queda Isis All the Same.'

'What's next? ISIS: A Love Story' said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, of the New York Board of Rabbis.

For some the occasion was a chance 'to stand with Israel,' as Nick Di Iorio, a Republican who is vying to take Representative Carolyn Maloney's seat in the House, said.

Others kept their remarks focused on the arts. 'The risk is that it will spread anti-Semitism and will give it respectability and contaminate the whole artistic world,' said Albert Braverman, a physician affiated with SUNY Downstate Medical Center who lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Some protesters' heckling equated attendance at opening night with support of the 'Klinghoffer' production. Joanna Barouch, a retired piano teacher who lives in East Brunswick, New Jersey, said she supported the protesters and was thrilled to attend the opening anyway.

Swapping Tickets

'I already voted with my feet,' said Barouch, describing how she exchanged tickets to 'Klinghoffer' in her subscription for another production. Opening night at the Met 'is fun, it's glamorous, it's an exciting New York moment,' she said.

The protest did little to disrupt the swish of gowns and soaring arias of the gala. The performance started 45 minutes late, without disruption.

More than one thousand guests attended a late supper, sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) among others, in a tent adjacent to the Opera House. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is a global sponsor of the Met and supported free live transmissions on the plaza of Lincoln Center and at Times Square.

The decor and food related to the production's Spanish setting. The gold seats had red cushions. Gigantic vases of autumn leaves perched on the tables. The meal included tapas -- olives, gazpacho, asparagus with manchego and vegetables cooked in a paella style -- followed by dulce de leche cookies and cinnamon dusted churros.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net

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