Dressed in a flight suit, mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo portrays a fighter pilot named Jess, who unexpectedly falls in love, gets pregnant and has to drop out of the military.

It's the story of "Grounded," an opera based on an award-winning 2013 play from George Brandt. 

"When she reassigns, she wants to go back, she reassigns, and then she's signed to flying drones instead, and then the rest of the work is about her having to make that mental adjustment, which is a big one," Brandt said.

Brandt provided the libretto, or the words, for the opera.

The music is from from Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori. She is making history as the first female composer in the Metropolitan Opera's 141-year history to kick off a season.

Brandt said he was already very familiar with her work.

"I was a big fan before meeting her so I was very, very excited to find out that she was my partner in this," he said. 

Creating the visual concepts are Jason Thompson, co-projection designer, and Kaitlyn Pietras. They are behind everything the audience will see on the LED walls.

"The video in this production is another character in the story, you know, it represents Jess's psyche, you know, our main character, so we start in a very soft, abstract world, and we see this digital fracturing that sort of happens as she breaks down the reality of what she is doing as a drone pilot," said Thompson, who makes his Met Opera debut.

Catch "Grounded" at the Metropolitan Opera through Oct. 19. The other season opening productions are "Tosca" from Puccini and "Les Contes D'Hoffman" from Jacques Offenbach. 

For ticket information, head to the Met's website.