The Met comes to Santa Cruz

Two of my friends brought this to my attention (thanks, guys!). I'll definitely be there for Aida, for which I found a helpful review on MusicalCriticism.com. But let's start with the basics, Wallace Baine's article in the Sentinel:

Native New Yorkers will tell you that California is nice and all. But there are certain finer things in life that are only available to those who live in or near New York City, among them a great pastrami sandwich, good playground basketball and the Metropolitan Opera. Well, you can scratch at least one of those off the list [...] The Santa Cruz Cinema 9 will be showing full Met productions on the big screen in glorious high-definition, beginning Wednesday June 16 with Verdi's "Aida." The summer series will feature recordings of six well-known, fully staged operas, each Wednesday night through the end of July. All times are 6:30 p.m. and tickets will be $15.

June 16 -- "Aida" June 23 -- "Romeo et Juliette" July 7 -- "Eugene Onegin" July 14 -- "La Boheme" July 21 -- "Turandot" July 28 -- "Carmen"