Trouble at New York City Opera
2011-2012 Season Suspended
By: Susan Hall - Apr 08, 2011
Sad but perhaps hopeful news from the New York City Opera that their 2011-12 season will be re-evaluaated. In production after production the City Opera hits the mark with lively renditions beautifully sung. The Elixir of Love. They extend into the community with programs for young people (this weekend’s Where the Wild Things Are is sold out) and also in mounting portions of operas-in-progress.
Figuring out an opera house's finances is not easy. For a while, I have tried to figure out the impact of income from the Metropolitan Opera's HD performances. Distributors in the movie business get no less than 50 per cent of the face ticket price, but the Met is not distributor of the HDs, and what portion of this presumed 50 per cent they get is not known. About eleven million people saw the HDs last year. At an average of twenty dollars a pop, that comes to about $220,000,000 or $110,000,000 to the distributor, part of which is the Met’s.
How the Met writes off their production costs against this income is another question. One small detail is interesting. It is cheaper for the Met to rent a mobile production truck costing at least $10,000 per day than it is to dismiss the truck and pay their union crews to lay cables, take them up and lay them down again for the next production. Crews and the orchestra have negotiated contracts to include premiums for performances transmitted as HDs. Talent also must get an HD bonus.
The after use of a DVD means that these performances will have an indefinite life and yield income. Of course, the Metropolitan Opera is not the only company producing marketable transmissions and DVDs of their performances.
The Met tax filings report over $300,000,000 as house ticket revenues. The HD income has apparently not caught up with this revenue flow. Of course, these HDs need a launching pad and over and over again you hear talent saying on screen, as Natalie Dessay did during the HD transmission of Iphigenie en Tauride, “This does not replace the experience of seeing opera live.” In fact attendance in opera houses across the country is down, but may be due not to the HDs but rather to the poor economy.
Although the Fire Department of New York could have enforced code violations at the Metropolitan Opera House at any time this year (and reportedly will do so for an upgrade to code over the summer) the Met has enough political clout to keep these violations in limbo for months so that critical ticket income can continue to flow.
Having spent a good deal of time covering opera and theater in Chicago over the past two years, the city’s attitude toward financing and building an audience is clearly different from New York’s. In Chicago, the people ‘own’ their art. The Opera House was constructed in a building the company owns, and they get income from rentals in the offices above the house. The general manager William Mason proudly says that he produces eight operas a season so that he can make sure each one is a jewel. And that they are. The Met staged 28 operas this year, some of which were not jewels.
We noted also that the Lyric had snagged Renee Fleming as she transitions into a more administrative role. She is on her way to becoming the Beverly Sills of this generation and an invaluable asset.
Spreading out to cover smaller theatrical organizations in Chicago, I went to TimeLine’s production of Mastering the Art and was blown away by the quality. (http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/12-12-2010_timeline-theater-company-of-chicago)-bubbles.htm) The TimeLine house has 99 seats. I was not surprised in an end of the year evaluation, when Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal chose TimeLine as the best national theater company. TimeLine, in addition to putting up first rate theater, has won many awards for their financial management. It is not embarrassing for artists to talk about money. It drives the work and we have to figure out how to afford what we create. Spending time doing this seems to enhance the work, certainly in the case of an institution as small as TimeLine and as large as the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Maybe we New Yorkers should all take a look at the Windy City to see how they succeed. The City Opera gives opportunities to up and coming talent, it produces operas of merit that other venues won’t or can’t because they are experimental or esoteric. Mounting them is important and helps the form to thrive. Let us hope that this ‘re-evaluation’ leads to a stronger company that can succeed with all the talent it brings to the stage.