Joanna write: "I found it to be the most boring opera company I've ever witnessed."
FM: Yes, before Peter Gelb took over as head the Met was considered to be one of the most conservative in the world. Under former head Joseph Volpe they had a house production style that was straight out of the Stalinist era with Disney-like illustrated sets and puffy wigs (I kind of liked the puffy wigs because they made me giggle). During Volpe's reign you had to cross under a huge American flag if you wanted to enter the opera house. It felt like every day was 9/11. Musically, orchestrally they've always been considered to be first rate which will probably continue as the legacy of James Levine for some time to come. Peter Gelb, a former music industry honcho, has tried to bring the company into the 21st (20th?) century which it has resisted kicking and screaming. But I pretty much stopped going when Gelb very vocally supported Bloomberg's self-coronation as a third-term mayor.