“Perhaps by some miraculous situation we can return in the Fall.” What? Not an optimistic assessment from Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera. At the Met’s online streaming Gala, as recently as 25th April, Gelb was upbeat about “meeting in September”.
Now 41 admin staff have been placed on furlough and may be paid off, the chorus and orchestra are in deep freeze and booked artists are champing at the bit. The Met’s already dodgy finances are now in tatters. Will the hocked Chagalls in the Met lobby be called in?
Critics of Gelb’s failure to implement structural reforms say the Covid crisis is an ideal opportunity to address the Met’s towering cost base. Heavily unionised, reliant on quirky donors’ largesse and facing plunging ticket receipts, there must be serious doubt that the Met can carry on as before post crisis.
