March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Star power and visual razzle dazzle made for an entertaining evening at the Metropolitan Opera last night as the company celebrated its 125th anniversary with a sold out gala that raised $6.3 million.

Center stage stood Placido Domingo, celebrating his 40th season since stepping in for Franco Corelli in Francesco Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” in 1968. In that time, the tenor has sung 45 roles and conducted nine operas at the Met.

Domingo started with outlaw Dick Johnson’s sobbing farewell in Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.” He then healed the sinful Amfortas as Wagner’s Parsifal, found his long-lost daughter in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra,” and stabbed himself as the foolish Otello. Not bad for a 68-year-old.

Using witty projections and animations, plus a few bits of conventional scenery, designers Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch pulled together 26 separate highlights evoking the Met’s rich history.

In “Parsifal,” a dove fluttered down when Amfortas was healed. At the end, a giant photo montage of a vast number of great singers, accompanied Wagner’s entry of the gods into Valhalla.

The old Met was evoked through projections of its proscenium arch. There were giant reproductions of original posters: one for the 1903 “Parsifal,” the opera’s first performance outside Bayreuth, was surrounded by advertisements for corsets and tea gowns.

Chagall Mural

Mozart’s overture to “Die Zauberfloete” came with an animated film inspired by the Met’s Marc Chagall mural, “The Triumph of Music,” -- one of those two gigantic murals against which the company has shockingly secured a line of credit. This was not, however, a night to ponder the company’s financial problems, but to acknowledge its glorious past and hopefully fabulous future.

The evening was a technical tour de force: as one singer was taking a bow, the set was already moving into place for the next scene with only a few minor halts in the action. This was one of the rare occasions when four hours didn’t seem like unusual punishment.

Singers like Renee Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Thomas Hampson, Sondra Radvanovsky, Juan Diego Florez, Joseph Calleja, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Natalie Dessay were in excellent voice. When Kwiecien delivered Don Giovanni’s Champagne aria, he toasted animated portraits of singing deities such as Rise Stevens and Maria Callas, who took the audience by surprise when she winked back at him at the end. The Met orchestra under James Levine was lively and supportive.

Renee’s Dress

Equally inspired were Catherine Zuber’s sumptuous costumes based on productions of the past. Renee Fleming as Marietta in Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt” wore an elegant lilac dress based on a design Maria Jeritza wore for the U.S. premiere, while Violetta’s slightly declasse gown was reproduced for Natalie Dessay from a 1937 production starring Bidu Sayao.

The women had stiff competition from the men, beginning with the sexy red suit worn by John Relyea as Mephistopheles. That hat! Those two giant red feathers! Domingo donned ermine- lined robes as baritone Boccanegra, a role he will sing next season, while Hvorostovsky was resplendent in gold satin breeches and gold brocade coat.

Tickets for the gala ranged from $125 without dinner to $125,000 for the concert and a table for 10. The audience was decked out, if less so than usual. There was a touch of glitter here, a bare shoulder or back there, but it seemed as if the important jewels stayed in the vault, in favor of a demure string of pearls.

Once again, the men shone. There was a dapper dude in a fiery red devil’s suit accessorized with silver shoes. There was a military man in full dress uniform suggestive of operetta with its array of medals, gold braid, and baby-blue-satin lapels. And there was actually a top hat.

Attending the gala as guests of corporate sponsor Yves Saint Laurent were singer Kanye West and his girlfriend, model Amber Rose, Mary-Kate Olsen, Jeremy Irons, Brooke Shields, and others from the world of entertainment. The fashion house will underwrite Met galas for two more seasons as part of a 4-year deal established in 2008.

Going into the early spring night, the crowd was abuzz with energy and satisfaction. One person exclaimed, “That was so good, I never have to go to the opera again!”

(Zinta Lundborg is a producer and writer for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Zinta Lundborg in New York zlundborg@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 16, 2009 13:31 EDT