Video: 'Metropolitan Opera House Moves (1966)'

(Friday, September 16, 1966, curtain rose at 8:27 p.m. EDT) — The Metropolitan Opera officially opened its new opera house at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts tonight with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra.”

The performance was directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli and choreographed by Alvin Ailey, starring Leontyne Price as Cleopatra with Thomas Schippers conducting.

Video: '"THE NEW MET: Countdown to Curtain" Bell Telephone Hour 1966 L. Price, F. Zefferelli' (Sept. 16, 1966, at 34:04)

Unfortunately, the glamorous evening was sullied by the presence of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos. Imelda was fresh off inciting a terrifying, mob-fueled frenzy in Manila that put The Beatles in physical danger just two months prior—all over a palace reception the band was never informed they were expected to attend.

Attending the Met opening as guests of first lady Lady Bird Johnson, the couple managed to avoid severe diplomatic fallout for the ordeal, remaining in power until they were deposed in 1986.