Visited bars on the Lower East Side and the East Village: Verlaine (110 Rivington) and Angel's Share (8 Stuyvesant St at 9th St. and Third Ave). Both highly recommended...

Tonight was the 2nd RSF outing of the year: dinner at Compass (70th near Amsterdam Avenue), and Cosi fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera. This was a standard repertory production designed by Michael Yeargan. James Levine conducted.

Paul Groves appeared as Ferrando and Jeff Mattsey as Guglielmo (filling in for Mariusz Kwiecien); Alexandra Deshorties was Fiordiligi, Magdalena Kozena was Dorabella, and Nuccia Focile played an adorable, mischievious Despina.

Had a spectacular backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera. Along the way, saw sets for Cosi fan Tutte (which had been rehearsed that afternooon and was being taken down), Rigoletto (being pulled from storage for an upcoming performance), and Die Zauberflote (being set up on stage for a performance that night--see here for the NYT review of this production).

We toured the massive paint and carpentry departments, visited the wig and costume shops (where hundreds, if not thousands, of costumes are stored with the names of their one-time wearers stiched inside each; the wig department had dozens of boxes of wigs each casually tagged "Miss Borodina," "Mr. Heppner," "Miss Netrebko," etc.) We visited the principals' dressing rooms, and the rehearsal rooms for the opera orchestra, ballet, and children's chorus (at least 3 rehearsal rooms were devoted to large opera rehearsals, in addition to the likely dozens of individual practice rooms). Before ending our tour in the house, we spent 15-20 minutes on stage watching the stagehands construct The Magic Flute. Overall, this was nearly a 1 1/2 hour tour (a tour anyone can take, with advance reservations).

By far the highlight of the tour was looking/listening in on a music rehearsal of Rigoletto, where Placido Domingo was conducting Rolando Villazon in a breathtaking aria ("Ella mi fu rapita"). (We also looked in on a separate rehearsal of Cyrano de Bergerac, but did not recognize the singers).

This was an afternoon never to be forgotten...

Bush on Alito, from his speech at Kansas State University:

"And Sam has been one of the picks I made for the Supreme Court, Sam Alito. He's a very, very smart, capable man. When you talk to Sam Alito, you think, smart judge. He's written a lot of opinions."

Also: Bush gets questioned about "Brokeback Mountain"

today's cartoon from Slate...

Midnight show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater: "Cracked Out" comes face-to-face with Crack-a-gedden. As good as it sounds!

Saw the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players performance of HMS Pinafore at the New York City Center (55th Street). Very entertaining...not too many standout voices except, perhaps, one of Sir Joseph Porter's (uncredited) sisters cousins and aunts, in particular.

Pre-theater dinner in the neighborhood at Mon Petit Cafe.

Jan 5-9: Attending the American Economic Association annual meeting in Boston.

Dining Highlights from Boston: ate at Casa Romero on Friday the 6th with friends and Maryland faculty. On Saturday night, went to Piattini Wine Bar on Newbury Street (Italian, tapas-style dishes). Both restaurants were in the Back Bay and were delicious.

Dinner at Ruby Foo's Times Square. Yum...