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To Flee or Not to Flee? Met Opera Goes on Despite Heavy Smoke

By Test Reporter | April 6, 2010 11:45am | Updated on April 6, 2010 11:36am
Audience members left the Metropolitan Opera House when smoke was spotted on one of the balconies.
Audience members left the Metropolitan Opera House when smoke was spotted on one of the balconies.
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Flickr/A. Strakey

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo.com Reporter/Producers

MANHATTAN — The show must go on, even if it looks like the theater is on fire.

A smoke condition in a balcony at the Metropolitan Opera House Monday night during a performance of an opera version of Hamlet prompted many audience members to flee, the Daily News reported.

No one fled in a panic, a Met spokesman told DNAinfo. Some opera-goers just decided to leave.

The fire department received a call about a potential fire at 9:16 p.m., and deployed six units, totaling 60 firefighters, to Lincoln Center opera house, the FDNY said.

The theater was determined not to be on fire, and the smoke was attributed to a malfunctioning stage light, fire officials said.

Despite the uproar, the show did not stop, Casey Elsass, a MET representative, told the News.