PORT TOWNSEND – It is a half-hour before the performance, and the hall of the Metropolitan Opera in New York is filled with the sound of people moving to their seats.
At precisely 1 p.m., the noise ceases as Placido Domingo strides to the podium.
Raising his baton, he launches the orchestra into the overture to Gounod’s “Roméo and Juliette.”
And you are there, front row center.
Or at least, you are in the equivalent of a front row seat at the Metropolitan Opera.
Actually, you are sitting in the Rose Theatre in Port Townsend on a Saturday morning.
Starting with “Roméo and Juliette” on Dec. 15, the Rose is adding opera to its lineup with real-time simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera productions that are almost better than being there.
“You see it up close, as opposed to three blocks away in the third balcony of the Met,” said Rocky Friedman, theater owner, “although I’m sure that has its own charm.”
The Met performances will be beamed by satellite to Port Townsend seconds later than they are actually happening onstage in New York.
