A Night at the Opera.

11-28-17 SHORT HILLS: The Pella Window team has been here for two days and all the new double-hung windows are in place. There is more outside finish work to be done tomorrow, and there are screens to be mounted. They guys have been very efficient dealing with removal of the old windows, new installations, lead remediation and good at cleaning up.


That's not Scrooge, that's Guiseppe Verdi.

We were in the city last night for a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. We had dinner at Café Fiorello as we often do, and when we came out of the restaurant there were huge crowds on Broadway, in Dante Park, between 9th Ave. and Broadway, and in Josie Robertson Plaza in the middle of Lincoln Center. It turned out that it was ‘The Winter’s Eve 2017’ celebration wherein the Xmas tree is lit and lots of street entertainment happens. Also, all the local restaurants have outdoor booths where they sell their signature dishes to the crowds. The biggest line was for cheeseburger sliders from P. J. Clarke’s for a buck each. I have performer pix below.

The Requiem was conducted by James Levine, now Musical Director Emeritus, and the soloists were from Latvia, Belarus, Bulgaria and Italy. I loved it. Judy and the NYT, not so much. It’s about an hour and a half long, so it’s an early trip home form the opera. There is a lot of dramatic music, and Hans von Bülow, the conductor and composer, disparaged the piece as an ‘opera in church clothes’. I’m not sure what the point of the criticism was.

Be there next year for a fun fete, and you don’t have to go to the opera.


Stilt walker strutting her stuff in Josie Robertson Plaza. She was part of the Alice Farley Dance Theater marching band.

Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Express pumped it out under the freshly-lit Xmas tree.

Ascap Holiday Chorus singing on Broadway next to Café Fiorello.

The tree in Dante Park, a triangular sliver of space between Broadway and 9th Ave, Lincoln Center in the background.

The Metropolitan Opera House before the show.

Jamie Levine in silhouette on the poster for Verdi's Requiem.

Waiting to face the music.

The Opera Chorus, soloists and Chorus Master taking bows after all the octaves.