THE OPERA Documentary to Screen at Ridgefield Playhouse This Winter

Multiple Emmy award-winning filmmaker, Susan Froemke, takes us into the Metropolitan Opera House in her new documentary, The Opera, that charts a momentous period of change for The Met and New York City in the 50s and 60s on Wednesday, January 17th at 12:55pm and 6:30pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse as part of the Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossing MET, NTL, & Bolshoi Live in HD & Classical Series.

As the Metropolitan Opera launches its 133rd season this fall, Froemke's new film surveys a remarkable period of the company's rich history and a time of great change for New York. Drawing on rarely seen archival footage, stills, and recent interviews, The Opera House chronicles the creation of the Metropolitan Opera's storied home of the last 50 years, against the backdrop of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the 50's and 60's. Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Me in 1966 in Samuel Barber's Anthony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met's imperious General Manager who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.

For tickets ($15), call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.