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Your Halloween costume might earn you compliments at a bar, but at the Metropolitan Opera, it could get you backstage. On October 31, the Lincoln Center institution invites opera-goers to arrive in their fiercest looks for a costume party with a particularly tempting prize. (It's a decent incentive to spend the next two weeks building that elaborate headpiece.)
The pre-show celebration runs from 6:30pm to 8 pm on Saturday, October 31, at the Mercedes T. Bass Grand Tier Bar, ahead of that evening’s performance of Lincoln in the Bardo. Expect photo ops, specialty cocktails and a costume contest judged by people who know a thing or two about making an entrance, like opera star Anthony Roth Costanzo, Tony Award–winning costume designer Montana Levi Blanco and Met Board Vice President C. Graham Berwind III.
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The winner will receive access to the Keebler J. Straz Lounge during intermission, plus an exclusive backstage experience. The Met hasn’t detailed exactly what that backstage experience involves, so consider the mystery part of the appeal. One essential catch before you start hot-gluing: the party is free for ticket holders, but you must have a ticket to the October 31 performance of Lincoln in the Bardo and register separately.
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Fortunately, the evening’s main attraction comes with plenty of supernatural atmosphere. Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek adapt George Saunders’s Booker Prize-winning novel, following Abraham Lincoln as he mourns his 11-year-old son, Willie.
The story unfolds in the bardo, a transitional realm between life and the afterlife, where spirits resist accepting their deaths. When Lincoln’s grief keeps Willie tethered to that world, its ghostly residents come together to help the boy move on. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts, with baritone Peter Mattei as Lincoln and an ensemble that includes Christine Goerke, Stephanie Blythe and Costanzo. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz supplies the otherworldly setting.
The production runs October 19 through November 14, but the costume festivities are reserved for Halloween night. For New Yorkers whose October plans could use a little theatrical grandeur, an evening of ghosts, cocktails and competitive dressing-up at the Met makes a persuasive case. Just remember to book the performance and register for the party before perfecting your victory pose.