Vietnam war. Even now, four decades later, when they see him, you know, they know he is the reason they are alive. Thank you. Stahl and they call him papa. How many children do you actually have now, and grandchildren . I just keep using the number 105. But the grandchildren, dont ask me. I cant keep up with that. Simon the phrase the greatest show on earth usually refers to the circus, but a man named peter gelb, who runs the metropolitan opera in new york city, is doing everything he can to change that. Theres no other place where you can see such monumental staging, elaborate sets, and a cast of hundreds. But the met is, above all, about extraordinary voices, some of the best voices in the world. Tonight, were going to take you backstage at the met and show it to you in a way youve never seen it before. Kroft im steve kroft. Stahl im lesley stahl. Safer im morley safer. Simon im bob simon. Rose im charlie rose. Pelley im scott pelley. Those stories tonight on 60 minutes. The next big thing is here. Dad hes our broker. He helps looks after all our money. Kid do you pay him . Dad of course. Kid how much . Dad i dont know exactly. Kid what if youre not happy . Does he have to pay you back . Dad nope. Kid why not . Dad it doesnt work that way. Kid why not . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at Charles Schwab [ telephone rings ] hows the camping trip . Well, the kids had fun, but i think i slept on a rock. The best part of wakin up what are you doing . Having coffee. Ohh. Is folgers in your cup having coffee. Okay, movhow do i win . Yone wins. Because were streaming the movie that you love. Well, how do i win . Because we ordered that weird thing that you love from the pizza place. How do you win, dad . Because i used the Citi Thankyou card and got two times the points on alllllll of this. Well, and spending time with you guys of course. That was a better answer. The Citi Thankyou preferred card. Earn two times the thankyou points on entertainment and dining out all with no annual fee. To apply, go to citi. Com thankyoucards. [guyi know what youre excited. Youre thinking beneful. [announcer]and why wouldnt he be . Beneful has wholesome grains,real beef,even accents of spinach,carrots and peas. It has carbohydrates for energy and protein for those serious muscles. [guy] aarrrrr [announcer]even accents of vitaminrich veggies. [guy] so happy you love it so much. Yes you do but its good for you,too. [announcer] healthful. Flavorful. Beneful. From purina. Rose today, the wealthiest 400 americans are worth over 2 trillion. Together, its been reported they own as much wealth as the bottom half of american households combined. While resentment towards the superrich grows, there may be a Silver Lining taking shape. It turns out a lot of those rich people are giving staggering sums of money away in what is being called a golden age of philanthropy. And this surge in generosity is not by accident. Much of it is the result of an ambitious and targeted campaign called the giving pledge. It was started by an influential trio bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. Last year, we had the opportunity to get them together to learn more about their new club for billionaires. Membership comes with just two requirements be worth at least a billion dollars and be willing to give half of that away. Is it necessary to join the giving pledge that you promise 50 of your net worth . Melinda gates yes, in your lifetime or in your will. Rose or in your will. Warren buffett right. Rose are people shocked by that . Buffett i dont think so. Melinda gates were asking them to be bold. Were asking them to step out and to do something big. But a lot of them were already on their way there and just hadnt put a numeric number behind it. And i think now, also, the giving pledge has gotten going, people know thats the expectation. Buffett and we dont. We dont find a lot of people that say, i want to join if it was 40 . laughter rose some may say, im happy to give much more than 50 . Buffett oh, most of them. Most. My guess is that a very significant percentage of our. Our members, i mean, way over half are going to give a lot more than half. Rose thats certainly true of the founders. The gates have already committed to giving 95 of their wealth away; Warren Buffett, 99 . They say that kind of extreme giving is needed because the rich have been getting so much richer. Tech innovations and rising Global Markets have produced vast fortunes not seen since the industrial revolution. So what does Warren Buffett say to convince todays billionaires to give their fortunes away . Buffett incremental wealth, adding to the wealth they have now, has no real utility to them. But that wealth has incredible utility to other people. It can educate children, it can vaccinate children. It can do all kinds of things. Rose there are others, and people that i know, say, i want to give it to my children. Thats what i want to do. Whats wrong with that . Buffett i dont really think that, as a society, we want to confer blessings on generation after generation who contribute nothing to society, simply because somebody in the far distant past happened to amass a great sum of wealth. Rose so far, 115 billionaires have bought buffetts argument and signed the giving pledge. Ages range from 27 to 98. Some inherited wealth, but most are selfmade. Their businesses range from technology and social media to pizza, hair care, and home improvement. Combined pledges so far . Over a half a trillion dollars. What conditions are there . I mean, can they say, yes, im with you. Im here. But i want to give it to this institution or that institution. Buffett we dont care what institution they give it to. Bill gates yeah, in fact, were not endorsing any flavor of philanthropy. We do think were all going to be smarter and do it better learning from each other. But there is no pooling of money. We celebrate the diversity of philanthropy. Rose billionaires can be shy when it comes to talking about their money. But Warren Buffett helped convince seven who have signed the pledge to sit down with 60 minutes. They are investors Pete Peterson and nicolas berggruen, south African Mining tycoon Patrice Motsepe and his wife, dr. Precious moloimotsepe, entrepreneur sara blakely, and a. O. L. Founder steve case, and his wife jean. When did you first hear of the giving pledge . Jean case melinda called and talked to us. But we had the benefit of knowing bill and melinda for a long time, going back to our technology roots. Steve case we competed against them for many years. Jean case we did. Steve case and were happy to finally join forces. Rose you wanted to be on their side. Steve case yeah, yeah, we wanted to be on the. Aligned. Rose theyve all signed the same pledge, and they bring the same brashness to their philanthropic ambition that helped them build financial empires. Pete peterson charlie, this is a group made up largely of entrepreneurs. And they didnt make a billion dollars or 5 billion by doing the ordinary; they did it by being bold. Rose thats certainly true for sara blakely. Sara blakely well, i made all the money by making other peoples butts look a lot better. Rose i think youve missed me. In 2000, she took 5,000 in savings and started the undergarment company spanx. Now, she wants her philanthropy to be as cutting edge as her billiondollar business. Blakely i started my business with an invented product that didnt exist and shook up an industry. And i want to collaborate with people and increase my chances of coming up with an idea or something that will do that for my cause, which is helping women. Rose at 42, blakely admits shes just beginning to figure out how shell help women. At 83, Warren Buffett says he wants to stick with what hes good at running his company, Berkshire Hathaway so hes given the bulk of his fortune to the bill and Melinda Gates foundation so it can be used to reduce global poverty and disease. As for the other pledgers, theyre tackling an impressive array of causes unemployment in south africa, Early Detection and treatment of brain cancer and some interests that take on a more political tone tax reform in california and the national debt. But as bill gates discovered when he left microsoft, going from making money to giving it away isnt always easy. An example of just one of the lessons hes learned it doesnt matter how effective a vaccine is; if you dont package and deliver it the right way, it will not do any good. I guess theres a learning process, too. Melinda gates absolutely. Rose because you feel like, how do you do this even if youre inclined to do it . Bill gates its almost disconcerting to switch to an area where youre back at square zero a little bit. And the measurements arent quite the same as in the business game. What youre trying to do the need to take risk, try different things, and so you need encouragement. Rose thats why buffett and the gates invite pledgers once a year to exclusive resorts like Kiawah Island in south carolina. Here, billionaires attend seminars on how to give money away more effectively. Our cameras were not allowed in, but we were shown this days agenda it included lessons on how tools Like Technology can be used to transform failing schools and, with the government cutting funding on medical research, how can philanthropists step in and help spur new medical breakthroughs. But we wondered, what else goes on behind closed doors . Will there be a conversation here about failure . Buffett sure. Jean case yes, there most definitely will be. Rose what does that. How do you phrase that . Buffett well, if you bat a thousand, youre playing in the little leagues. I mean, the. And the problems are major league. Steve case the difference in the entrepreneurial world, when you launch a company, you have a particular idea, a particular product, a particular Service Almost always you pivot, you shift. You. The market reacts to your initial idea. You make some adjustments. Its only after making a few adjustments that you see the success. We need that same mentality in philanthropy trying things, taking risks, recognizing the first try, maybe the second try, maybe the third try wont work. But if you stay at it and youre learning, youre talking to others, and youre learning together, eventually, youll break through and see the kind of impact you were hoping for. Rose jeffrey skoll, one of the first to sign the giving pledge, is using the billions he made as ebays first president to fight what he calls Global Threats not just one, but five problems hes convinced pose immediate danger to humanity Climate Change, water security, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, and the middle east conflict. I mean, is there some argument to make sometimes that. That because people made a lot of money, they may come to these problems with a certain arrogance, like, i know everything there is to know. Im so. Smart guy. Let me tell you what to do. Jeffrey skoll i think we all have a danger. Rose arrogance. Skoll . Of feeling like we know the answers. And the reality is we dont. Rose but that doesnt keep skoll from trying. In addition to his more traditional charitable giving, in 2004, he started the for profit Media Company participant, to make movies that promote his philanthropic goals. And the purpose of the movies is what . Awareness is one. Skoll to create entertainment that inspires and compels social change. And so whether that is Climate Change or dolphin hunting in japan or dealing with drug sentencing laws, every film we do has a purpose and it has a social Action Campaign associated with the movie. And we try to get people involved in the issues of the movie to try to make a difference in those issues. Rose but the problem with all of this may be that it shows how quickly charity can cross over into advocacy. Take the 2011 movie contagion. Skoll took what hed learned through his charitable work in pandemics and funded a movie to warn people that a virus could kill billions. On day one, there were two people, and then four, and then 16. In three months, its a billion. Thats where were headed. Rose and what did the movie accomplish for you . Skoll in many ways, it put pandemics back on the map, that the public realized how important our Public Health organizations are, for example. A number of politicians that had seen the movie who were ready to vote on cuts to funding to the cdc recognized that that would be a bad idea. Randall lane the public has a right to know who owns the world. Rose randall lane, the editor of the business magazine forbes, says billionaires like skoll have become so influential, he devoted an entire issue to philanthropy. Lane government is showing, you know, over the past couple decades that it can no longer solve the great problems of the day. Now, these philanthropists who have incredible wealth, the problemsolving brainpower, and also the name and the influence to be able to open doors, are uniquely qualified right now to solve the huge problems. Rose but that does raise the question, do these billionaires have too much power . Theres some people who say big philanthropy is not such a good idea, meaning that, somehow, you have enormous power and youre not elected, and that that may not be such a good idea to have people with enormous wealth to have so much influence. Buffett well, would they prefer dynastic wealth, pass it on . Or would they prefer, you know, obscenely high living . Theres a couple other ways to get rid of money, but i. I think its better if youre helping other people, using a good bit of it for helping other people. Rose okay, so theres no instance in which somebody could say, look, i mean, we got too many people of huge wealth who are having too much influence. Jean case well, charlie, think about bill and polio, for instance bill and melindas work in polio. I mean, theyre coming close to eradicating polio on the face of the earth. I think when we have a couple of examples like that, people will see, thats not power being used for personal purposes; thats really leveraging everything you have to change the world to make it better. Rose but as Warren Buffett is finding out, not every billionaire feels that way. Buffett ive gotten a lot of yeses when ive called people, but ive gotten a lot of nos, too. Because ive been calling people with a billion dollars or more, ive been tempted to think that if they cant sign up for 50 , maybe i should write a book on how to get by on 500 million. laughter because, apparently, theres a lot of people that dont really know how to do it. Rose since our story aired last november, another 12 billionaires have signed the giving pledge. Cbs money watch update sponsored by good evening. Europe could impose tougher trade sanctions on russia tuesday over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17. Rj reynolds will fight a 26. 3 billion verdict in a florida tobacco liability suit. Sales of certain cadillac models are on hold due to an ignition flaw gm cant fix. Im elaine quijano, cbs news. Celebrate your love of crab with gthis years largest variety . cause its crabfest at red lobster dig into a succulent selection of crab entrees. Like new crab lovers trio with sweet snow crab legs, split king crab, and jumbo lump crab over savory shrimp. Crab three ways all on one plate. Or try new jumbo lump crab over woodgrilled salmon. Experience crabfest at red lobster today. Only for a limited time. Come in and sea food differently and other Car Insurance companies . Yes. But youre progressive and theyre them. Yes. But theyre here. Yes. Are you. There . Yes. No. Are you them . Im me. But the lowest rate is from them. Yes. So thems best rate is. Here. So where are them . Arent them here . I already asked you that. When . Feels like a while ago. Want to take it from the top . Rates for us and them. Now thats progressive. Call or click today. No one offers more than sears. Its the only place where you get the top 10 advantage, that guarantees the best price on all top 10 appliance brands. And sears is the proud home of kenmore, the most awarded brand in the industry. So get to sears now to save 40 or more on refrigerator super buys during our refrigeration spectacular. And save 150 on samsung upright vacuums. And for more hot deals, call star star sears now on your mobile phone and start shopping. Sears. Performance starts here. Stahl youve heard of the brave and ingenious rescue of jews from the nazis by oscar schindler, and the courageous and unlikely rescue of the american hostages from iran depicted in the movie argo. But until we first reported it back in october, very few people had heard about the daring and dangerous rescue of the vietnamese from saigon by john riordan. It happened nearly 40 years ago, at the very end of the vietnam war, when everyone was trying to escape the communist incursion. No one was paying attention to an unassuming american banker who had already been evacuated, going back in to save his stranded vietnamese colleagues and their families. You got everybody. John riordan everybody. Stahl . Everybody who worked at the bank, spouses and children . Riordan right. Stahl there were 105 in all who john riordan, risking his own life, rescued in the last days of the war. Even now, four decades later, when they see him, you know they know hes the reason theyre alive. Today, theyre leading prosperous lives as american citizens, with children who are doctors and lawyers, and with grandchildren. Riordan isabel, do you know my name . Isabel john riordan. Riordan you even know my last name its even more than i know. Stahl john riordan was as far from rambo and Mission Impossible as you could get. Back in 1975, he was a young banker, handsome and unattached, working as the assistant manager of citibank in saigon. They gave you a villa. Riordan they gave me a villa. Stahl and you lived well. Riordan i lived well, yes. Stahl he hosted barbecues at the villa for the banks 34 vietnamese employees tellers, secretaries, accountants. They were like a family, tying their future to american banking. But that april, communist tanks were barreling toward saigon. Hundreds of thousands were leaving, or trying to. Three weeks before saigon fell, john got an order from citibank in new york burn everything important and get out. Riordan they said, john, weve chartered a 747 pan am thats coming in. And we want you to take all of your staff and leave the bank and get out to this plane. Stahl by this point, it dawns on you what would happen to those people if you didnt get them out. Riordan some of them would be killed. Cuc phamvo its scary. It was very scary. Stahl cuc phamvo worked in personnel; chi vu was the head teller. They were hearing rumors of reprisals by the vietcong against anyone working for the americans. Would you have been seen as traitors, as spies . Cuc the closer you to american, the more they think you spy. Stahl but their own government set up checkpoints to keep people from leaving the country. Without exit papers, the staff had no way to escape. John didnt want to leave without them. But the bank ordered him out. So he boarded that pan am flight to hong kong alone. And the employees were left to fend for themselves. Did you feel abandoned . Cuc yes. Stahl did john say anything to you when he left . Chi vu i was crying so much. I was worried about my kids, my husband. And he said, dont worry. Ill be there for you. Stahl john and his bosses at citibank spent day and night in hong kong cooking up rescue plans. They tried to send in helicopters, even an oil tanker. And they asked the u. S. Government to help, all in vain. Riordan i felt we had all those people back in there, and they were counting on us. And many, many times, in the conversations we had with them, they said to us, dont let us down. Please do everything you can. Stahl but after two weeks of trying, citibank said enough. A manager told the hong kong team, if you try some Daring Rescue mission, youre fired that night, johns immediate boss, mike mctighe, a former marine, asked john to dinner. Riordan and just as my steak arrived, and i was picking up my knife and fork and hes making small talk, and then he suddenly. He says, you know, john, one of us has to go back. And i put down my. Stahl oh riordan . Knife and fork and pushed that steak back, and i can feel tears coming outof my eyes. And he said, would you go back . Stahl go back, even though it meant losing his job, possibly losing his life. And yet, 11 days before saigon would fall, the mildmannered banker defied his bank and better judgment, caught the very last commercial flight into saigon, and walked into the branch. Riordan and everybody comes running around me and said, what do we do . What do we do . How are we going to get out of here . And everything. Stahl but youre there under the authority of who . Youre not working for citibank. Riordan no one. No one. On my own. Stahl on his own authority, john moved them, with their families all 105 of them into his villa and another one nearby so theyd all be ready to go as a group when and if he came up with a plan. He told them to tell no one where they were. Four days went by. Nothing was working, until a cia agent told him the only way out now is on u. S. Military cargo planes that are evacuating americans and their dependents. Riordan he says, the evacuation has begun. Take your family and go out to the airport and process them through. And i said, well, i dont have a family. And he said, just create a wife and children, no matter who they are, and go out there and sign the dos. Stahl this is thrst tithis i stahl try and pass off his vietnamese colleagues, their spouses and children as his family . There were 105 of them do you say to him, are you kidding me . You dont say cockamamie . You dont say riordan no, no. Because thered been so much cockamania before that, this was a time to jump on anything that looked like it was going to float. Stahl you were at the end of your rope. Riordan yes, absolutely. Stahl it was worth a try, but not for all of them at once. He took the bank van and went out to the airfield alone to see if it would work. Riordan i walked into that processing area and i. Somebody gave me a piece of paper. He said, list your dependents on here. And i was fumbling for what piece of paper i was going to have to write this all down. They said, just attach that to this piece of paper and keep going. Stahl there were 15 names. Riordan it was a bit of a rush. Stahl you had a wife and 14 names. Riordan right. That was kind of ambitious. Stahl daughter, son, daughter. Riordan right. Stahl . Son. Yeah. This is the paper wife, daughter, daughter, son. 14 kids, some older than he was. He was certifying on a u. S. Government document that these were his children. Is your heart pounding . Riordan yes, a little bit. Stahl palms sweating . Riordan i certainly was nervous, yes. Stahl he was stunned when the officer no questions asked stamped it and handed john evacuation tags. He rushed to the villa to pick the 15 up, amazed that such a crazy idea was actually working. Do you remember when he came back what happened . Cuc we so happy and elation to see. He is a life saver. He an angel. Stahl but you had to keep it secret, right . Chi yes. Stahl you never told your parents . Cuc no. Stahl so you never said goodbye . Cuc no. Stahl over the next four days, as fear gripped the city, john repeated this ruse, going back and forth to the airport ten times, filling out papers with groups of six or eight. Did any of these officers ever question you in all this time . Riordan this one man, he said, havent i seen you here before . I said, no, sir, absolutely not. Bang. I know he wanted to get going, too. And then, another time, this man said, well, youve got one heck of a big family here, huh . Youve been busy when youve been. I said, oh yes, ive been here a long time. And just stamped it again. Stahl you just went back and back and back. Riordan hard to believe it would be that simple to do. Stahl we recently met with seven of his daughters. They didnt think it was all that simple since john was separating them from their husbands. All the staff women will go first, and the husbands will leave in a separate group. At that moment i was thinking, will i ever see my husband again . Stahl getting the husbands out was the most dangerous. Yes, because they were either in the army or working for the government. And if the m. P. They saw anybody like that or they caught anybody like that, they would shoot right away. Stahl john was able to get the husbands fake adoption papers as his sons. And managed to get some of them on what he thought was safe, a u. S. Embassy evacuation bus like this one to the airport. But the bus was stopped by Police Looking for deserters. Riordan the driver of the bus stopped at the checkpoint, opened the door, and a Vietnamese Police officer stepped onto the bus. And he looked up and down the aisle and i thought, this is it. We are all going to be taken off this bus and shot. But in a split second, a woman sitting in the front seat, a vietnamese woman, leaped up toward the policeman and poked her hands into his stomach. I thought she knifed him. And then i saw a bag of something move from her hands to his hands and i thought aha, its a bribe stahl bag of money . Riordan bag of money, yes. Stahl the bribe worked; he waved them through. The last group of men at the villa were afraid to risk another bus, but john was out of ideas. Finally, one of the men thought up an ingenious plan they pretended they were delivering bundles of money to the airport in the bank van. They even called the police for an escort like this. Riordan and they had rifles and everything. And they just led us right through the gates of the airport. Stahl you just went right on the plane with these guys . Riordan right. They were safe. Stahl all of them . Riordan all of them. Stahl one of them was chis husband. Every time i ask you about john, you cry. Chi hes so kind, you know, to stay behind and take. Took us out. He did so much for us. Saved my kids and my husband. Stahl they flew on one of the last planes out of saigon. After that, the only route of escape were the helicopters at the u. S. Embassy. Within a few days, north vietnamese tanks rolled into the president ial palace. The war was over. What followed were years of starvation and brutal repression. Many who tried to escape by boat drowned at sea. But thanks to john, the citibank employees were flown out to either guam or the philippines, and then all reunited at Camp Pendleton in california. Do you think all this time youve been fired . Riordan yeah, i do still think that. Im not worried about it, though. Im still alive, theyre all alive. Important things. Stahl well, he wasnt fired. He was given a big bonus and hailed as a hero. At the reunion for john in long island with a group of his children, we found out they call him papa. Papa john. Riordan do you remember me . Yes, i do. I havent talked to you in a long time stahl citibank spent a Million Dollars to resettle all the employees, giving them and many of the spouses jobs. Riordan i will never forget you, too. Stahl at the time, in saigon, he thought of his colleagues at the bank as his vietnamese family. 40 years later still his family, but now, as american as. Cheese stahl do you think the people who came here have had good lives . Riordan yes, i do. Stahl how many children do you actually have now, and grandchildren . Riordan i just keep using the number 105. But the grandchildren, dont ask me. I cant keep up with that. Really. So our business can be on at ts network for 175 dollars a month . Yup. All five of you for 175. Our clients need a lot of attention. Theres unlimited talk and text. Were working deals all day. You get 10 gigabytes of data to share. What about expansion potential . Add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. Low dues. Great terms. Lets close. Introducing at t mobile share value plans. With our bestever pricing for business. Every time you take advil youre taking the medicine doctors recommend most for joint pain. More than the medicine in aleve or tylenol. The medicine in advil is the number one doctor recommendation for joint pain. Relief doesnt get any better than this. Advil [ male announcer ] over time, youve come to realize. Its less of a race. And more of a journey. So carry on. With an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan. Insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Go long. Are you about to spend that on paper towels . Mom well, i use bounty. Kerri ooo use sparkle®. Its just right for cleaning up everyday little messes without cleaning out your piggy bank. Sparkle®. The bright way to clean. He cadillac summer collection is here. During the cadillac summers best event, lease this 2014 ats for around 299 a month and make this the summer of style. Simon the phrase the greatest show on earth usually refers to the circus, but a man named peter gelb, who runs the metropolitan opera in new york city, is doing everything he can to change that. As we found out when we first reported this story last october, gelb is reinventing opera, making it accessible to more people, even those who always thought they would hate it. He wants opera to become as popular and populist as it was a hundred years ago. He believes people would come out in droves for opera if they just had a chance to see it. Theres no other place where you can see such monumental staging, elaborate sets, and a cast of hundreds. And raw emotion. Beautiful women. Defiant. And doomed. And special effects that you might expect to find in a hollywood movie. But its not just about the magic, the met is above all about extraordinary voices. Some of the very best voices in the world. Beginning with rehearsals, we followed a new production, a reimagining of Giuseppe Verdis masterpiece rigoletto. Polish tenor Piotr Bezcala belts out one of verdis greatest hits. applause whats the difference between singing at the met and singing in the smaller european houses . Piotr beczala its the most important opera house in the world. Simon do you get more nervous before met performance than at other performances . Beczala maybe a little. Maybe a little because i know how important is. It is here. Simon serbian baritone zjelko lucic sings the role of rigoletto. applause zeljko lucic this is the kind of crown of our business, coming to new york and metropolitan. Because i know what kind of people, what singers sang here and stood at the same place where i am. Simon in fact, when you sing the first time at the met, is it a very big deal . Lucic yes, because thats your chance to prove yourself. And if you are, you know, if you. How can i say, blew it out . Simon if you blow it . Lucic if you blow it, youre done. Thats it. Simon unlike divas of the past, german soprano diana damrau is a working mom, nursing a twomonthold baby and a cold. She has a lot to contend with. You were quite sick last week . Diana damrau yes. Im still a bit. But i tried not to sing all the time, and reduce a little bit. Simon just a little bit. I mean, you were belting it out. Damrau oh, no, only at the end. applause simon rigoletto is far from the only thing going on here today. There can be as many as ten operas in production at once. Right now, the met stage is being set up for a new version of richard wagners parsifal, a sacred opera thats never been done like this before. Dozens of ravenhaired maidens sloshing around in a river of blood. 1,600 gallons of the stuff, heated so the singers dont get cold. Overseeing all this is that worriedlooking man, peter gelb, the mets general manager. He says opera is a blood sport. Peter gelb i go in every day to the met knowing that this is. There is a battle to be. To be waged and fought for the survival of this art form. And so, im here to do that. Simon this is your seventh year at the met . Gelb yes. Still here. laughs simon seven years micromanaging one of the biggest theatres in the world, and one of the most expensive to run. The met employs over 3,000 people. It spends more than a Million Dollars a day on its productions. Gelb we are the closest thing to an opera factory that one could possibly imagine, except the difference is that all of our factory workers are the greatest artists in the world. Right now. We got it. Wahoo gelb were doing seven performances a week, constantly going from opera to opera, which is why our stage is busier than any other opera house in the world. Its like a giant, self sufficient ocean liner. Simon but that liner was in danger of sinking. The met struggled financially, with falling attendance, and an audience which might not be around much longer. Gelb it was way behind the times. And it had become so mired in images of elitism that unless that changed, unless it was prepared to become accessible, as opera once had been, it was going to be very difficult for the met to survive. Simon to make opera more accessible, gelb opened up dress rehearsals to the public for free, and put up huge screens in Lincoln Center and times square. And he did something which has never been done before he began transmitting Live Performances in hd to movie theaters around the world, now in 64 countries. Those broadcasts are money makers; this year they grossed nearly 60 million, more than threequarters of total tickets sold. Gelb theres no Opera Company in the world today that has a global audience that the met has because of these live hd transmissions. Simon but youre still a hundred Million Dollars in debt. How does that relate to everything youve done . Gelb operas always in debt. From a business point of view, opera shouldnt exist. I mean, it only exists because there are enough people who love opera, and my job is to try to persuade them that it is necessary to change in order to keep the art form alive. Otherwise. Otherwise, it will die with them. Simon one of gelbs strategies to keep opera alive is to update the classics, like rigoletto. This production, directed by broadway veteran michael mayer, is ready for its opening night. Rigoletto has been performed over 800 times here, but this audience of almost 4,000, and later, another 350,000 watching in hd as far away as tokyo, will see a radically different version. Ten minutes before curtain, you can cut the tension with an aflat. Beczala okay, im ready. Lucic it seems that im not nervous. But, yeah, of course i am. This is a big thing, so im kind of, you know, cooking somewhere here, you have this feeling that everythings. That you are going to throw up. laughs gilda to stage right, please. Ms. Damrau to stage right. Please. Maestro to the pit, please. Maestro to the orchestra pit, please. applause simon Giuseppe Verdi set his tale of debauchery, lust, and vengeance in a corrupt court in 16thcentury italy. This one plays out in its modern equivalent las vegas in the 1960s. The heartthrob, the duke, is now a bigshot singer and casino owner with an eye for the ladies. The met provides subtitles for its hd broadcasts, and those have been revamped too. Take it easy, fella. Simon its a big role of the dice for peter gelb. Will the old guard be ready for show girls, a pole dancer, even a sharpdressed hitman . His name is sparafucile, one of the longest names in opera. Simon when you decided to put on rigoletto, in las vegas, what worried you the most . Gelb that i was heading for a disaster, but its a risk worth taking. The risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all. Simon in the last act, the mood changes. Rigoletto will not have a happy ending. Very few operas do. Damrau lets go and die. Lucic yeah, but peacefully. Simon the plot is much too complicated to explain, but well just tell you rigolettos daughter sacrifices herself to save the duke. It will be a spectacular death scene, with the met pulling out all its stops from the chorus backstage, to the lighting team, to the hd crew sending it out live around the world. The hitman offs the daughter and stuffs her into the trunk of a 1960 Cadillac Coupe deville. She breathes her last in her fathers arms. Ready on three. Wait for it. applause simon at the final curtain, the audience jumps to its feet, even the orchestra applauds. That doesnt happen every day. applause for gelb, it was a good night. But in opera, as in so many other things, youre only as good as your next night. What does las vegas have to do with a 16century italian opera . Rigolettos director explains on 60minutesovertime. Com. [ terri ] my antidepressant worked hard to help with my depression. But sometimes, i still struggled to get going, even get through the day. So i was honest with my doctor. I told him id been feeling stuck for a long time. He said that for some people, an antidepressant alone only helps so much and suggested we add Abilify Aripiprazole . He said that by taking both, some people had symptom improvement as early as 1 to 2 weeks. I wish id talked to my doctor sooner. [ female announcer ] abilify is not for everyone. Call your doctor if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. Antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. Elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible lifethreatening condition. Or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. High blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. Other risks include increased cholesterol, weight gain, decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness on standing, seizures, trouble swallowing and impaired judgment or motor skills. [ terri ] since adding abilify, i feel better. Abilify and my antidepressant make a pretty good team. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about a free trial of abilify and go to addabilify. Com. Let that phrase sit with you for a second. Unlimited. As in, no limits on your hardearned cash back. As in no more dealing with those rotating categories. The quicksilver card from capital one. Unlimited 1. 5 cash back on everything you purchase, every day. Dont settle for anything less. Ill keep asking. Whats in your wallet . Ill keep asking. Thank ythank you for defendiyour sacrifice. And thank you for your bravery. Thank you colonel. Thank you daddy. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance can be one of them. If youre a current or former military member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. To the next level. Dunkin donuts bakery series coffees, with bakeryfresh flavor dunked right in. Try chocolate glazed donut flavored coffee today. One taste, and youll understand. Pick some up where you buy groceries. Each year 17 billion toilet paper tubes are thrown away in the us alone. Thats enough to fill the empire state building. Twice. Now theres scott naturals tubefree bath tissue. Get the premium softness you need without the wasteful tube. Toss the tube for good with scott naturals tubefree. For the freshest produce you want to be close to the people who are close to the land. Thats why safeway works with over 150 local growers. The folks whose hands are in the soil. Planting and nurturing the kind of delicious produce that gets delivered daily to safeway. So theres more local produce to love. Like this week, locally grown g s farms sweet corn is just 8 for 2. 00. Stahl im lesley stahl. Well be back next week with another edition of 60 minutes. Captioning funded by cbs and ford captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org ben well, that was close you aint lying let quicken loans help you save your money. With a mortgage thats engineered to amaze its Olive Gardens first ever alfredo three course. It starts with our famous alfredo made from scratch. And features four new recipes. Like shrimp caprese and chicken with broccoli. The three course italian dinner served with unlimited salad and breadsticks plus dessert. Starting at 11. 99. At olive garden. Captioning funded by cbs previously on big brother, calebs obsession with amber. This kid just always happens to pop in the room. I just walk by to check in, it is getting under my skin. Began to turn his own alliance against him. For what, game. No, because amber likes you. Its evident that caleb is head over heel force amber and is thinking with his heart and his head is not in the game. He is becoming a big liability and that could be a problem. And they considered making a big move. You say caleb. I want to. Its a big move, you know. Hes letting a girl cloud his judgement. But there was still a bigger target on the block. At this point so at the