Metropolitan Opera's money crunch

[MezzA101]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 7:51am

https://operawire.com/peter-gelb-looking-to-license-intellectual-property-naming-rights-to-met-building/

[MezzA101]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 7:53am

The Met Opera Turns to Saudi Arabia to Help Solve Its Financial Woes

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/arts/music/met-opera-saudi-arabia-finances.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jE8.Waxd.lmtL8N9y4WfG&smid=nytcore-android-share

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 8:28am

Poor Peter just can’t win these days. I have to commend him for trying absolutely anything. Between the disasters of the Bart Sher and Michael Mayer experiment, Live in HD barely breaking even, the Russian hack, half-empty houses, a dying audience, and the death of a fraudster-donor (how much is needing to be paid back to the rightful holders of that money?), I don’t blame him for trying his luck finding oil in the Middle East. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 9:49am

Broadway producers must be drooling at the thought of Saudi money. Feels like only a matter of time. (And that press/social media cycle will be a blast………….)

As for the naming rights, given that it’s the only hall at Lincoln Center that doesn’t bear the name of a donor, I get why he’s doing it. Let’s not go crazy, though (eg. don’t get yourself into a “Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage” situation). If Avery Fisher Hall could get renamed for a mere $100 mil a decade ago, he shouldn’t accept less than half a bil.

Updated On: 9/5/25 at 09:49 AM

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 9:54am

The hours was a hit.  I think they do decent when it’s a good new opera or a big star.  Maybe bringing back Anna netrebko would help?

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 10:01am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Broadway producers must be drooling at the thought of Saudi money. Feels like only a matter of time. (And that press/social media cycle will be a blast………….)”

Michael Cassel and Liz Coops have already made moves in the region, but I’m sure others will be looking to get in on the action. The runs have been very short so the money must be good by comparison. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 10:06am

I would fly in a moments notice if they remounted that production of the Ring Cycle with what they called the machine. That looked spectacular. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 10:16am

I nominate The Jamal Khashoggi Memorial Opera House as the new name.

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 10:51am

Shouldn’t they be doing more coproductions?  Does that help lower cost?  They were supposed to bring Semele over in a coproduction with the Bavarian State opera, I don’t know if it’s still coming.  Do they really need to do La Boheme every season?

[Huss417]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:05am

Birdie Boy said: "Maybe bringing back Anna netrebko would help?"

Sounds like something Broadway Flash would have said.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:06am

They kinda do need to do La Boheme each season at it sells very well. It’s the children’s show of the regional repertory theatre. 

Updated On: 9/5/25 at 11:06 AM

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:12am

rosscoe(au) said: "I would fly in a moments notice if they remounted that production of the Ring Cycle with what they called the machine. That looked spectacular."

Oh it....did not work. Dramatically, or mechanically. it was incredibly ambitious but the mechanics involved in the machine ended up being incredibly finicky, noisy and unreliable, and broke down mid performance several times. It also created a lot of logistical issues for the singers. You can see, in the staging, just how much they had to scale back on ideas. In Rheingold singers are clambering all over this thing, but it decreases with each opera's staging until by Gotterdammerung the machine is mostly used as a backdrop with singers largely positioned on the platform in front of it. It just didn't work. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:26am

Birdie Boy said: "The hours was a hit. I think they do decent when it’s a good new opera or a big star."

This is their business model now. The new works –– The Hours, the Terence Blanchard operas, the Jeanine Tesori opera –– and big swings are what have been driving sales. Crucially, they are bringing in younger buyers. Every gay in New York wanted to see The Hours because of the IP and the cast; that's not true of most things they've done. Hence why they're also exploring a MOONSTRUCK opera with Ricky Ian Gordon. Broadway has adapted for the times, and Opera has to do the same.

One problem with the Met is everything has to be so big, which is great for things like Boheme or Porgy, but not as good for some other properties. The Hours felt like it would have been better as a chamber piece (and maybe some day it will get that treatment). And when a new production (or coproduction) debuts, it's not like doing one season of it is going to "pay off", they're playing the long game. They'd crumble if they did a season of only new productions of new works. There's still room for the classics a few weeks each year.

Remember, the Met being a nonprofit also means that producing opera is kind of a loss leader for donations. Ticket sales are important, but attracting new, big-dollar donors is also important.

Also keep in mind that The Met spent $330 million on its season last year. That's more than the COMBINED budgets of Roundabout, LCT, MTC, 2nd Stage, the Public, City Center, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, and Center Theatre Group. It is so much bigger than any theatrical nonprofit. $330 mil is probably also more money than it cost to put up all 14 new musicals on Broadway last season.

Updated On: 9/5/25 at 11:26 AM

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:40am

Yeah I couldn’t even get a ticket to The Hours the first time. It was the first time they brought a production back in consecutive years after first premiering it.  They should do an adaptation of Toni Morrison books. Get Adam Guettel to write new operas with Audra McDonald as the star

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:48am

That production of La Boheme is so big it even has animals walking on the stage.  It can’t be cheap 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 11:55am

Birdie Boy said: "That production of La Boheme is so big it even has animals walking on the stage. It can’t be cheap"

Well, they’re saving money on maintenance at least. The set hasn’t been touched up in twenty years. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:09pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Birdie Boy said: "That production of La Boheme is so big it even has animals walking on the stage. It can’t be cheap"

Well, they’re saving money on maintenance at least. The set hasn’t been touched up in twenty years."

Incorrect! The set was rebuilt in 2023. Not sure where you are getting your info from or if you just make it up as you go along?

Updated On: 9/5/25 at 12:09 PM

[dan94]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:10pm

The La Boheme is a cash cow for them. Yes it costs, but it sells. Yes, they do actually need to do it every season to financially survive.

The new operas do generally sell well in house. Unfortunately they do not sell in movie theaters when included on the Live in HD series, which is how those visually STUNNING productions of El Niño and Ainadamar went without a video recording. There are exceptions though, the Tesori Grounded was the least attended opera of last season. They really went all out trying to get musical theatre fans to show up to that one, and we did not. Topped out at 50% capacity.

The Met does a lot of co productions, the upcoming Innocence for example is a co production/co commission with 5 other companies. 

The fixed costs are high. Money from ticket sales cannot come anywhere close to covering their costs. And they are out of date with revenue streams from ticket sales because the house is too big. Save 5-10 dates out of the year that actually sell out, you can always get a ticket to the Met. They can't do the dynamic pricing the rest of the entertainment industry has moved to, or even raise normal ticket prices effectively because of all of those empty seats.

I think it would help to build some kind of collapsible wall that removes the Family Circle. When the rest of the house gets to something like 90% sales, open up the wall and give everyone a percentage bonus based on the ticket sales from the expanded section. The house will still be too big, but it could start to create some sense of urgency around buying tickets, or at least get some positive publicity around ticket sales for the 10 dates that wall would be open.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:30pm

Huss417 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "Birdie Boy said: "That production of La Boheme is so big it even has animals walking on the stage. It can’t be cheap"

Well, they’re saving money on maintenance at least. The set hasn’t been touched up in twenty years."

Incorrect! The set was rebuilt in 2023. Not sure where you are getting your info from or if you just make it up as you go along?"

La Boheme, rebuilt? They may have replaced some of the framework (and certainly not all) but I can guarantee you those streets have dust on them from the Y2K countdown and those shops haven’t seen a lick of paint since the first coat.

I’ve seen it up close with my own eyes. 

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:30pm

If they’re really strapped, I guess they could dabble into musical theater every now and again like some of the other opera houses have done. The New York opera did A Little Night music, Lyric opera of Chicago has done Rodgers and Hammerstein, porgy and Bess is always debated whether it’s an opera or a musical and the Met is doing it this season.  They could do Show Boat and Sweeney Todd even though I guess it’s not a good look

[Huss417]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:39pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Huss417 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "Birdie Boy said: "That production of La Boheme is so big it even has animals walking on the stage. It can’t be cheap"

Well, they’re saving money on maintenance at least. The set hasn’t been touched up in twenty years."

Incorrect! The set was rebuilt in 2023. Not sure where you are getting your info from or if you just make it up as you go along?"

La Boheme, rebuilt? They may have replaced some of the framework (and certainly not all) but I can guarantee you those streets have dust on them from the Y2K countdown and those shops haven’t seen a lick of paint since the first coat.

I’ve seen it up close with my own eyes."

Maybe you need to open your eyes a little more. Just because you say it doesn't mean it is true.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2023-met-opera-la-boheme/?embedded-checkout=true

significant portions of the Metropolitan Opera's Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohème were rebuilt in 2023, thanks to a $1 million donation from Met board member C. Graham Berwind, III. Acts 1 and 4 were rebuilt first, followed by an entirely new Act 3, and the sets were used for the production that premiered in October 2023

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 12:41pm

dan94 said: "I think it would help to build some kind of collapsible wall that removes the Family Circle. When the rest of the house gets to something like 90% sales, open up the wall and give everyone a percentage bonus based on the ticket sales from the expanded section. The house will still be too big, but it could start to create some sense of urgency around buying tickets, or at least get some positive publicity around ticket sales for the 10 dates that wall would be open."

I'd welcome that in many houses. The Broadway Theatre has that type of curtain for a chunk of the rear mezz.

The problem would be, they'd have to price a bunch of the Balcony seats at $35-$60 instead of the $55-$155 that they're at now. But it's a matter of pennies, and still would only be reducing by about 600 seats (so the cap would still be 3,000+).

I'm spoiled by Broadway houses, but I hate sitting in the rear of auditoriums bigger than ~1800 seats, and auditoriums that don't have the mezzanine overhanging the orchestra.

Updated On: 9/5/25 at 12:41 PM

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 1:23pm

“Significant portions of the set were rebuilt” ≠ “The set was rebuilt”

[Huss417]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 1:57pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "“Significant portions of the set were rebuilt”≠ “The set was rebuilt”"

Typical MAGA. You never can admit when you are wrong. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/5/25 at 2:01pm

Huss417 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "“Significant portions of the set were rebuilt”≠ “The set was rebuilt”"

Typical MAGA. You never can admit when you are wrong."

I will admit that SOME of the set was rebuilt. But not the entire set. “The set” implies the entire set.