For those who want to know, the first opera in the Met’s new season is Porgy and Bess, co-produced with the English and Dutch national operas. There’s a guy in it named Ryan Speedo Green, and initially, I was intrigued by the name — he was born on April 1, and says his bodybuilder father decided to name him after his favorite sporting line, to be funny — but it turns out he’s had one hell of a life story, including spending time in solitary confinement in juvy when he was 12. He wrote a book about it, too. Opera and the right teacher changed his life; now he’s a regular on the Met stage. Pretty amazing.
