Audience members file into the Metropolitan Opera house in New York's Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, for the opening night of a new opera season. French soprano Natalie Dessay created a sensation in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor."
Actress Jane Fonda arrives at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, in New York. The opera company season opened with a new production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." The live performance was broadcast on giant screens in Times Square.
Television host Deborah Norville was accompanied by her husband, Karl Wellner, to the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala Monday, Sept. 24, 2007 in New York.
Actress Vera Farmiga and her boyfriend, Renn Hawkey, arrive at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Television host Barbara Walters arrives at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Natalie Dessay, right, performs the title role during the final dress rehearsal of Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The 1835 opera was based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott.
Natalie Dessay performs the title role during the final dress rehearsal of Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The story is about a young woman who goes mad after being forced to abandon her true love and marry another. She kills her bridegroom on their wedding night.
Crowds in New York's Times Square watch a live performance of Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera on Sept. 24, 2006.
Actress Tovah Feldshuh arrives at The Metropolitan Opera's Opening Night at Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
"Weeds" actress Mary Louise Parker arrives at the Metropolitan Opera's opening night at Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Designer Zac Posen arrives at The Metropolitan Opera's Opening Night at Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Former tennis player John McEnroe and singer Patty Smyth pose together in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera house in Lincoln Center before the opening night of the season Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Social and human rights advocate Bianca Jagger arrives at the Metropolitan Opera's opening night at Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Former TV news anchor Walter Cronkite and singer Joanna Simon arrive at the Metropolitan Opera's opening night at Lincoln Center on Sept. 24, 2007, in New York.
Actor Willem Dafoe and his wife, Giada Colagrande, arrive at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala Monday, Sept. 24, 2007 in New York. The season opened with a new production of Donizetti"s "Lucia di Lammermoor".