So the Met’s suddenly cool among young people…

That’s the gist of the latest gush from the New York Times:

A Friday performance this month of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” drew a crowd that included dozens of attendees not yet old enough to rent a car.

“I’m usually dressed better,” said Patience Opaola, 23, who was taking a selfie by the fountain with her 17-year-old sister, Precious. It was Ms. Opaola’s fifth show since September; before then she had never seen a single opera. Her favorite so far? Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème,” which she described as “the grandfather of ‘Rent.’”…

No reference is made to the Met’s internal demographics, which show an average attendance age in the 60s.

What the Met wants to read is: Drawn by cheaper tickets and a sense of glamour, New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s are making their way to the Met this season, many of them for the first time.

This observational journalism could have been written by the Met’s press department.

Come to think of it, probably was.

Picture: Lise Davidsen in 2009: a fan at the Met