BY JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 13 February 2006]

First, a word about who wasn't there. I'm talking about the Metropolitan Opera's "Samson et Dalila," which revived on Friday night. (This is the opera by Camille Saint-Saens, and the Met has a spiffy, weird, compelling production by Elijah Moshinsky, which debuted in 1998.)