Yes, Derb it’s true. When my brother and I were little kids we got jobs as (non-singing) extras (in opera and dentistry they call them supernumeraries) at the Metropolitan Opera. It was great stuff. We got paid cash, ran around the place, exploring the costume rooms, etc. For the record I don’t like opera very much (my dad loves it). The performance I was in with Pavarotti was the 1978 production of L’Elisir d’amore (I believe it was his New York debut). I was also in Peter Grimes, Faust and a couple others. It was a great experience for the fun, but I got less culture out of it than you might think.