The Met's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO to Broadcast at Town Hall Theater

The Metropolitan Opera opens its 130th season with a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and directed by Richard Eyre. Town Hall Theater will broadcast it live on the THT big screen October 18th at 1:00 pm. This is the first time since 1941 that Mozart's enormously popular comedy-in which various romantic entanglements complicate the nuptial plans of Figaro and his bride-to-be, the clever housemaid Susanna-has been chosen to open the Met season.

James Levine conducts the opening night performance this season for the first time since 2010, and nine subsequent performances of the opera through October. Levine has led Le Nozze di Figaro a record 67 times at the Met-including the premieres of the company's two previous productions in 1985 and 1998.

Richard Eyre's staging of The Marriage of Figaro sets the opera in late 1920s Seville. Eyre made his Met debut in the 2009-10 season with an acclaimed production of Carmen that returns to the repertory this season. His Broadway directing credits include Private Lives, Mary Poppins, The Crucible, and Judas Kiss. He has also directed numerous films, including the Oscar-nominated Iris (2001) and Notes on a Scandal (2006).

"The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most popular operas of all time and has songs that are instantly recognizable, even to people who have never seen an opera. You know this opera. You don't even know you know this opera, but you know it. The movies Trading Places, Zombieland, The King's Speech and The Shawshank Redemption all use pieces from Figaro, not to mention the countless number of cartoons," says Operations Manager Haley Rice. "It's Mozart's effervescent score that makes Figaro so universal and so loved."

Tickets to the 1:00 pm broadcast of Le Nozze di Figaro on October 18 at THT are $24/ $10 students, and are available at 802-382-9222, www.townhalltheater.org, or at the door if available.