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OperaSIG

Page Guide

• What We Do

  • The Event, Dates and Times

  • The Place

• Membership Requirements (such as they are)

• Not a Ticket-Holder?

• Would You Like an Email Reminder?

• Disclaimer

What We Do

The phrase "Opera Special Interest Group" (a/k/a "OperaSIG") seems a little grandiose for what we actually do.

No, we don't have any:

• dues;

• officers (well, "Captain-Commander" is a pretty good self-appointed office -- not that it pays anything, or has any honor, of course);

• newsletter;

• membership roster; or

• minimum attendance requirements.

This webpage is pretty much it.

Well, we do offer:

• one or two Saturday-morning events each month during the fall-winter-spring opera season each year (closely coordinated with Metropolitan Opera events), and

• an email reminder service for these events.

For bureaucracy, though, you're pretty much stuck with this webpage.

The Event, Dates and Times

What do we actually do? Opera SIG goes to Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD! This is the Saturday matinee (well, mid-morning, West Coast time) of the Metropolitan Opera, live and in high-definition big-screen audio-visual cinematic splendor! The Met now broadcasts the live performance to selected high-tech theaters worldwide. We go to the very-high-tech theater in the Irvine Spectrum mall.

The show starts at 10:00, but we start sitting at the Starbucks across from the theater at 9:00, waiting and watching for the theater's doors to open. That way we can get good seats, and can sip, kvetch, and nosh as we do so. Cinemas -- those barbarians! -- invariably use festival seating rather than the assigned seating system used by the Met (and by every other opera company on the planet).

Between 9:15 and 9:45, SIG members:

• finish their espressos (and bagels with cream cheese),

• wander over to the theater,

• buy their tickets (for 2007-08, it was $18 per adult, and $15 per child), and

• get in line.

The doors open at 9:30, and the better seats get taken by those nearer to the head of the line.

Picture it. While we're waiting for the doors to open, we get to:

• eat bagels with cream cheese -- just like they do next to Lincoln Center, and throughout the Upper West Side;

• drink espresso -- just like they do next to Lincoln Center, and throughout the Upper West Side; and

• kvetch about the Republicans -- just like they do next to Lincoln Center, and throughout the Upper West Side.

On two Saturdays (stated below) the show starts 30 or 60 minutes early, so everything else is pushed back 30 or 60 minutes as well.

Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD meets as follows:

There's a chance that we can get group tickets to:

• Opera Pacific,

• Los Angeles Opera, or

• San Diego Opera.

If ever there was something that needed to be discussed over espresso, bagels, and cream cheese, this is it.

The Place

Here's a map of the Irvine Spectrum mall.

• Download it.

• Print it out.

This map is optimized for getting around on foot once you've walked out of the Big Parking Structure near the "Gateway Valet" entrance at the north-east section of the mall.

Parking? Go to the big parking structure at the north-east corner of the mall. Yes, that link will take you to a "Google Maps" webpage. This webpage is optimized for getting around in your car from your home to the mall. So click on "To here" and enter where you're starting from, already!

OperaSIG meets for two events in association with each performance:

• A light breakfast before the show at the Starbucks at the north end of the mall. Retail space number 608. You did download and print out the map of the mall, didn't you?

• A light and late lunch after the show. Same venue. "So, how did you like the sets in Act 2, Scene 1?"

Look for my smiling face!

Membership Requirements (such as they are)

OperaSIG is, technically, a Special Interest Group (SIG) of Orange County Mensa. However, it by no means limits its membership to:

• those with tickets for Saturday's performance; nor to

• card-carrying members of Mensa (whether of Orange County Mensa, American Mensa, or Mensa International).

Our only limitations are that:

• you must love opera; and

• you must at least tolerate breaking bread (hey, "bead" includes "bagels", right?) with a group of highly-intelligent opera lovers.

Not a Ticket-Holder?

Some of you may have seen a similar performance before our SIG meeting Saturday morning. If you'll be within easy driving distance of Irvine Spectrum, then we'd love to break bread with you. Regale us with what to look for in the Met's latest effort.

Some of you may be seeing the performance as a rebroadcast after our SIG meeting Saturday morning. If you'll be within easy driving distance of Irvine Spectrum, then we'd love to break bread with you. We'll speculate on how we may regale you -- at the post-performance late lunch, or by telephone or e-mail on Saturday evening -- with what to look for in the Met's latest effort.

Would You Like an Email Reminder?

Would you like an email reminder -- whether you've ever attended an OperaSIG event or not -- of future OperaSIG events? Send me an email, and I'll hook you up with our yahoo-group. If you're web-savvy, feel free to sign up (or sign out!) directly. You'll get an automatic reminder three days before each event -- and another reminder one day before the event.

Yes, you can leave the yahoo-group (and stop getting notices) any time you want. If you're having difficulty signing out directly, then send me an email; I'll sign you out myself.

I welcome comments on this reminder service.

Disclaimer

It's hard to imagine OperaSIG's activities as being particularly controversial; but, no, we don't speak for:

• The Metropolitan Opera;

• Orange County Mensa;

• American Mensa; or

• Mensa International.

None of these entities has any control over us, nor has any responsibility (financial or otherwise) for what we do.

Well, yes, Orange County Mensa sometimes gives us a link from its website, and a mention in its newsletter. Sometimes. When its Webmaster (and/or Calendar Editor) feels like it and/or has some space.

Sheesh! Lawyers! And I'm a lawyer myself!