The show must go on, even better if it’s at a discount.
The Music Center in Los Angeles found a subtle way to counter Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet’s recent pooh-poohing of ballet and opera: It’s offering 20% off tickets to an upcoming ballet performance.
The venue posted its deal on Instagram Tuesday, inviting patrons to use the promo code “CHALAMET” (OK, maybe not so subtle) to save on select seats starting at $89 to the New York City Ballet’s performance at the venue on June 24-28. The deal is only for this week.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the post had nearly 87,000 likes.
The Music Center noted that the post was inspired by a similar Instagram post from the Seattle Opera, which offered a discount to its upcoming “Carmen” opera with the promo code “TIMOTHEE.”
“We’ll be the Chalamet to your Timothee,” The Music Center’s viral post read.
Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera comments
During a Variety and CNN town hall on Feb. 24, Chalamet spoke with Matthew McConaughey in front of a live audience of students at The University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication. The pair discussed several topics, including AI and when they met on Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar.”
About 50 minutes into the conversation, the actors began talking about movie pacing and what it takes to capture the attention of moviegoers today.
“I admire people — and I’ve done it myself — who go on a show and say, ‘Hey we’ve got to keep movie theaters alive, we’ve gotta keep this genre alive,'” Chalamet said. “And, another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like ‘Barbie,’ like ‘Oppenheimer,’ they’re gonna go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.”
Chalamet’s comments then veered to the preservation of other art forms, particularly opera and ballet.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Keep this thing alive even though no one cares about this anymore,'” Chalamet added, with a laugh. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there.”
The audience laughed.
“I just lost 14 cents in viewership,” Chalamet quipped, as McConaughey joined in the chuckles. “Dang, I just took shots for no reason.”
“That’s not a shot, I hear what you’re saying,” McConaughey replied.
Chalamet then quickly pretended to sing before the actors moved onto another topic.
Timothée Chalamet gave a sweet shoutout to his Kylie Jenner while accepting the Critics’ Choice Award for best actor.
On March 5, the Metropolitan Opera posted an Instagram reel showcasing the many elements of opera production, and captioned it, “This one’s for you, @tchalamet…”
“All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there,” the Met Opera’s post said.
Since then, several more opera companies around the world have followed suit, with some inviting Chalamet to attend their shows.
Where to watch opera and ballet in Los Angeles
In addition to productions at The Music Center, here are a few ways that Angelenos can watch opera and ballet.