This is my dad, James Matthews. He lives with my mom in the house where I grew up in New Jersey, about ten miles northesast of NYC. And, though he may not look it, he's a senior citizen.

Last night, we went to the Met together for the first time. Dad had only been to the Met once before: in 2004, to see Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly with my mother, a Christmas gift from your's truly. They told me for weeks after how much they loved it: the singing, the sets, the costumes.

But, Met tickets are expensive and, in part because my dad's on a fixed income, they haven't been back since. Enter the Met's Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman rush ticket program, which offers two-hundred $20 seats to every Monday-Thursday performance throughout the season. These seats, which normally sell for $100, are located on the fringes of the Orchestra: not the best in the house, but a helluva lot better than the Family Circle.    

The program, which requires patrons to purchase their tickets in person two hours before curtain, has been immensely popular: I tried to get rush tickets a couple of times last year, and got locked out on both occasions. But this year, the Met instituted a loophole: patrons over 65 can purchase their tickets over the phone or online starting at noon on the day of the performance. And, best of all, seniors can purchase up to two tickets each.

I told Dad about the program a few weeks ago, and we agreed to give it a try. We checked the Met's calendar, and zeroed in on last night's performance of Puccini's La Bohème : not necessarily something I would have gone to see on my own, but a perfect choice for someone's second-ever visit to the Met.

Bohème is the most popular opera in the world, and with good reason: it's a story about the lives of everyday people, full of joys and sufferings that are familiar to most of us. It's filled with stirring melodies, but is never cloying. And, it is one of the most tightly constructed operas ever written, with every note precision-placed for maximum impact.

Although Bohème was primarily my dad's choice, there was something in it for me, too. I'd never seen this acclaimed production by the Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, which just set the record for the most performances of any opera in Met history. The cast featured bona fide stars Angela Ghiorghiu as Mimi and Ramón Vargas as Rodolfo. And, it's been completely sold out for weeks.

So yesterday, Dad forked over his credit card info, I logged onto the Met's website, and by 12:10 p.m., we had our tickets. Dad picked them up at the box office an hour before curtain, giving us just enough time for a quick bite at O'Neal's across the street.

Our seats ended up being far better than I expected: Row K, five seats in from the right-side aisle, with a completely unobstructed view of the stage. They were, by far, the best seats I've ever had at the Met. (Well, at least legally...)

As for the performance, a note in the program announced that Elena Evseeva would sing in place of Ghiorghiu, which turned out to be a blessing: Evseeva's understated soprano suited the sickly Mimi far better than Ghiorghiu's overpowering voice, which dominated the Met broadcast a couple of weeks ago. It also allowed the other players to strut their stuff - particularly the Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta, who showed huge stage presence as the sassy, scheming Musetta.

But, it was Vargas' night. The Mexican tenor made me think immediately of Pavarotti - who sang Rodolfo at the Met dozens of times - in his teddy-bear warmth, if only slightly less so in his voice. Still, Vargas had the chops when it counted: the final garret scene, where Rodolfo screams "Mimi! Mimi!" over his lover's dead body, felt so real it made my entire head and back tingle.

As for Dad, his favorite was the ensemble scene in Act II, set outside a cafe in Paris' Latin Quarter. It was indeed a spectacle: a chorus of 200 townspeople filled the square. Live horses pulled carts across the stage. A full marching band trotted through. Stirring and brilliant.

If you haven't already seen it, the final performance of La Bohème this season is this Friday, April 18. Unfortunately, rush tickets aren't available for that one, but the same $20 will get into standing room in the rear of the orchestra, which, from past experience, isn't half bad. They'll be on sale that morning at the box office or online.

Thanks to Ms. Varis and Mr. Leichtmann for their generosity. Thanks, also, to Peter Gelb and the Met for coming up with the idea in the first place. And, most of all, thanks Dad. Let's do it again real soon. (More pics after the jump.)