Berg's WOZZECK Opera MET Transmitted Live

The Metropolitan Opera was broadcast live at the Rialto in Sebastopol early Saturday morning   For opera aficionados or mildly enthusiastic opera fans, The Metropolitan Opera magnanimously avails itself to a larger audience who don't have access or disposable affluence to attend live opera productions in NYC.  I'm less than  a devoted opera buff but appreciate the opportune access - to a simultaneous broadcast on the big screen.  Tickets at the Rialto are $26 v. the average price of a ticket at the MET costing over $100; although $25 tickets are available on the day of the performance.  I noted the mean age of the almost sold out performance was 80 something (& they were a mean crowd). There were more walkers & motorized-chairs than spaces to accommodate them.  More officious were the ambulatory seniors who aggressively entered into rows as if to enter into a row.  Perhaps I'm being petty, but I didn't have the mindset, despite foreknowledge of Alban Berg's opera being very dark & dismal.  The German opera is set during WWI.  Berg (b. Austria 1885-1935) a prominent 20th C composer served in WWI 1915-18 as a soldier with the Austrian-Hungarian army.  Many of Berg's compositions were barred in Germany during  the 1930s & 40s because of his close association with Jewish composers & artists.  Berg's opera has a bleak musical score with a dark melodrama.  Before the opera commenced, the host who welcomed viewers inside the Metropolitan Opera House as the audience was getting seated appeared jittery and aroused sympathy.  The conductor, Yannick Nezet-Seguin (b. Canada 1975) and production director William Kentridge (b. S. Africa 1955) were interviewed and asked for an overture for the opera.  Nezet-Sequin discussed the complex & difficult aspects of performing Berg's opera.  Kentridge, born into a Jewish family during apartheid is a multi-media artists best known for his drawings & animated films.  The dimly lit set, animated films and transforming abstract figurative backdrop were impressive & prominent.  Utilizing an actor manned puppet with a gas mask face Wozzeck's young, son was disturbing.  Moreover, I wasn't in the frame of mind to sit through 2 hours of distressing entertainment. I left an hour into the screening having to maneuver through a battleground of wheelchairs and extended limbs.  I will attend future MET HD Live performances but with a more discerning proclivity for luminescent fare (fair enough).