I went as a doubter and left as a believer. I hope that the Austin-centric production of Die Fledermaus or The Bat is revived. By all appearances, every performance was sold out, and for good reason.

The music is delightful; the costumes were witty and so were the lyrics in English from the fine people of Esther’s Follies; the singers were in fine form and were wonderful comic actors as well. Each performance had cameo appearances: ours included one B. McCracken (who was roundly booed), B. Dunkerley, Moser the Style Avatar, the Biscuit Brothers, and Wammo (Asylum Street Spankers) doing his Batman riff.

The Long Center acoustics, experienced for the second time, were still disconcerting. Some of the percussion was heard as though coming from the back of the hall and not at all from the orchestra pit. It was easy to tell which female members of the audience had been to the Long Center before: they were the ones wearing flat shoes and not heels. The view toward downtown, changing almost daily, remains spectacular in all lights.

The audience did laugh and would laugh to see it again, I’d bet. Photos of many of the production’s costumes for Austin landmarks and people (Peter Pan, the tower, the capitol, Hyde Park french fries, Lance Armstrong, Willie Nelson, and more) may be seen at the opera’s site. And we all sounded loud, in tune, and rousing as we joined the Biscuit Brothers in singing You Are My Sunshine.

It’s tough to get there these days, according to the local daily (”Weekend events overwhelm Palmer Events Center parking,” byline Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, April 22), tougher than it used to be to reach the Bass Concert Hall on campus, even though this location is closer for many. We used to eat downtown, ride the bus up the hill part of the way and walk part of the way, and then take the bus home. The only bad thing that could happen would be that a performance would run long, so that buses were off the streets, but then it was easy to walk to a downtown cab stand and catch a ride the rest of the way.

Last week, charter buses and vehicles of all sorts were delayed in reaching the new Long Center or could find no nearby parking and were very late to the Sunday matinee performance of Carmen.

ALO’s general manager fired off an e-mail blast today, declaring to ticketholders that this weekend it will be different:

I would like to assure our Thursday and Saturday night Carmen ticket holders that they will not encounter such parking difficulties. On Thursday evening there is a performance at Rollins Theater which holds 250. On Saturday there is a City Wide Garage Sale from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. and the University of Phoenix Graduation Ceremony from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Palmer Events Center but both will be finished well before our 7:30 curtains.

I confess, though, that I’m suspicious, since in that same e-mail people are advised to arrive an hour early. If gridlock occurs, cabs won’t help, and it’s frightening crossing the streets around there on foot. It’s so near, and yet so far. We’re still considering the logistics.

Carmen is one of the operas most often suggested for beginners (La Traviata, Tosca, and The Elixir of Love are some others; people will argue for hours over this question). The last performance of Carmen that I attended was the wonderful event staged in the Austin Coliseum, now demolished. Even sitting on bleachers didn’t diminish the pleasure. Last-minute tickets are often available at the box office. Like it or not, the melodies from Carmen are unforgettable and you will hear people humming them as they leave the show.