Season 2 of Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD kicks off soon {Engadget HD}

Dec 27th 2007 3:38PM Interesting enough, I had two similar incidents, but when the Live in HD was not live. I went to watch the replay of The First Emperor and The Barber of Seville at two different AMC theaters in two different states and both theaters managed to screw it up. In the first instance, we were an hour into the opera when previews for a string of R-rated movies cut in. We were told that someone forgot to reset the projector. The staff had no concept of the whole program, seemed completely ignorant of what they were doing and offered to start us after the intermission, cutting out a full one and a half of the opera. They also offered free movie tickets($7 worth), but didn't realize we had paid over $20 to see it in the first place. At the second AMC theater, the staff didn't even bother to tell the audience there was a problem. They were hoping we wouldn't notice that they had started in the middle of Act II. Only when I got up and said, "Hey, this isn't right" and confronted the manager did they confess they had "forgotten" to download 75% of the opera! Even then I had to argue and fight to get a full refund and free tickets not only for me but for the rest of the audience. The whole thing was very deceptive. Still, I don't blame the Met, it was very obviously the lack of training AMC gave it's employees that ruined two amazing opera experiences for me and hundreds of other opera fans. Thankfully, only the first theater (AMC 20 in San Diego) is still allowed to show the broadcast. The other theater in Phoenix is no longer showing them.