Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway, Whoopi Goldberg and Sigourney Weaver Look Chic at Dead Man Walking Premiere

The opening night gala of the new Metropolitan Opera was held at New York City's Lincoln Center

Anne Hathaway, Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg enjoyed a night at the opera on Tuesday!

The trio were among the starry guest list who gathered for the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala of their new production, the acclaimed Dead Man Walking.

Hathaway, 40, looked chic in a voluminous black gown while Weaver, 73 and Goldberg, 67 also opted for all-black ensembles as they took to the red carpet at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center.

Other names in attendance included Mad Man star Jon Hamm, 52 — who was with his wife Anna Osceola, 35 — and British actor Patrick Stewart, 83, alongside his 44-year-old wife Sunny Ozell.

Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance, Marcia Gay Harden, Al Roker and his wife Deborah Roberts and Peter Sarsgaard were also at the event.

'Dead Man Walking' Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Premiere, New York, USA - 26 Sep 2023
Patrick Stewart and his wife Sunny Ozell attend ‘Dead Man Walking’.STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Dead Man Walking premiered 23 years ago at the San Francisco Opera and back then, composer Jake Heggie couldn’t fathom seeing his work on stage at New York City’s prestigious Metropolitan Opera House.

“The Met was not doing new opera, particularly; it was not featuring or focusing them,” Heggie told the New York Times last week. “It just seemed a distant dream.”

The production comes from an adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean’s book of the same title which details her attempts to save a condemned man’s soul before he is executed, according to a press release from the Metropolitan Opera.

'Dead Man Walking' Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Premiere, New York, USA - 26 Sep 2023
Jon Hamm and Anna Osceola at the Metropolitan Opera Opening Night.STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

During a conversation with AP News published on Tuesday, Prejean revealed that she told Heggie she didn’t know “boo-scat about opera” when he first pitched her the idea of turning the story into an opera.

'Dead Man Walking' Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Premiere, New York, USA - 26 Sep 2023
Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett attend the opening night.STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

The Metropolitan Opera now refers to Dead Man Walking as “Heggie’s masterpiece” and “the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years.”

The New York Times also spoke with the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, Peter Gelb, ahead of the premiere.

“Bringing it to the Met was overdue,” Gelb said. “It symbolizes the efforts that we’re making to really transform the art form and to appeal to a much broader audience base that we have to appeal to for opera to succeed and ultimately survive.”

'Dead Man Walking' Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Premiere, New York, USA - 26 Sep 2023
Peter Sarsgaard at Metropolitan Opera Opening Night.STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Dead Man Walking was also made into a film in 1995 starring Sean Penn as a death row inmate named Matthew Poncelet. Susan Sarandon portrayed Sister Helen Prejean.

Sarandon earned an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance in 1996 for her work in the drama.

Dead Man Walking’s next showing at the Metropolitan Opera is on Saturday and runs through Oct. 21.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Hathaway opened up to PEOPLE about her postpartum journey after welcoming sons Jack, 3, and Jonathan, 7.

“People don’t talk about this and it really made me feel better when I found out,” Hathaway said. “It takes three years for your body to fully recover from a pregnancy.”

'Dead Man Walking' Metropolitan Opera Opening Night Gala Premiere, New York, USA - 26 Sep 2023
Deborah Roberts and Al Roker attend ‘Dead Man Walking’.STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

In October 2022, the star appeared on Sirius XM’s The Jess Cagle Show and spoke about why her two kids are a major factor when deciding on acting projects.

“I have to say, the ‘kids’ thing has been the biggest shift,” said Hathaway, who shares her sons with her husband Adam Shulman, 42. “That’s kind of re-prioritized everything, so it’s actually made me a bit choosier because something really has to be so excellent to spend time away from them because they’re so precious to me.”

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