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The Bronx Zoo Cobra: "Mr Lepage, I'm ready for my close-up."
Photo by Julie Larsen Maher © Wildlife Conservation Society

At an early press breakfast Friday morning at the Bronx Zoo, the Metropolitan Opera introduced the newest member of the cast for its new production of Siegfried: the Bronx Zoo Cobra.

How They Caught the Bronx Zoo Cobra

A cobra. Not the Bronx Zoo cobra. But a nice picture that I found on Google.

"Officer! Officer! I saw the whole thing. There was this guy named Tommy, from down on Prince Street! He had a buddy with him, Gino--we all call him papí. Anyway, he had just bought a whole bunch of live chickens from the Halal butcher down on Canal.

So there they was, they're runnin' through the park when these three old ladies, real Fifth Avenue types, jumped up from behind a rock and whacked the cobra just as it was about to strike...."

Or something like that. Anyway a video of the opening scene of the Met's old David Hockney production of "Die Zauberflöte" which features a menacing serpent. Or something. Tamino is Francesco Araiza. Papageno is Manfred Hemm. Kathleen Battle hasn't shown up yet. So enjoy.