four weedings and a funeral
This afternoon, after breaking the tragic news that Baltimore Opera seems to be on its last legs, Opera Chic added the startling tidbit that even the mighty Met is planning major cutbacks for next year. The blog says (with no source offered) that the company “is about to excise four [productions?] from their 2009-10 season.”
Per Brad Wilber c/o Sieglinde, the Met’s ambitous 100% Peter Gelb-planned season is projected as follows:
New productions: Tosca, From the House of the Dead, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Carmen, Attila, The Nose, Hamlet, Armida.
Repertory: Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Aida, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Der Rosenkavalier, Turandot, La Damnation de Faust, Il trittico, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Hansel and Gretel, Stiffelio, Simon Boccanegra, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, La Fille du Regiment, La boheme, The Ghosts of Versailles, Der Fliegende Hollander, Benvenuto Cellini, Lulu.
So if four of these productions are fated to fall by the wayside, which do you think most likely to be axed? And, while we’re discussing, which four do you think should be axed?
She can’t pull Tosca off, she needs the distraction a new Tosca would give.
No Bryn Terfel either. Why go?
NOT to put words in her mouth, but i think what our doyenne meant in post #7 was
On November 8, 2008 at 6:29 pm, La Cieca mumbled:
Not to offend any of our regular commenters, but La Cieca has to say that if there is one thing that utterly drives her up the wall, it’s “I know something you don’t know, and I’m not telling.â€
Versailles is such an expensive show to put on, but if it’s rep they may keep it anyway. Hopefully they’d can the new production of Tosca and pull one from rep, or one of the dozens of Toscas floating around the US. I’d like to think that Lulu is far too an important work to be cut, which I think signals bad news for the Janacek. House of the Dead is a really difficult work for audiences. Pity, because it’s pretty terrific.
It would be a pity not to have Frau ohne Schatten which seems already to have replaced the originally planned revival of Die Aegyptische Helena (still utilizing Voight and Fabio Luisi). I cannot see Cellini selling very well – or the Ghosts of Versailles without a Marilyn Horne etc. But to drop four or five operas just means that the others remaining will have even more performances and some truly popular operas also do not sell out if they do not have stellar casts. At this late date the best singers or even reasonable singers may not be at the Met’s disposal for added extra performances of Aida or Turandot for example. You cannot easily utilize singers booked for the House of the Dead or Lulu in a Puccini or Verdi opera. But assumedly the Janacek and Berg singers have contracts and would have to be paid something to break the contract. Plus who wants to go to hear a wretchedly sung performance of Aida or Turandot despite the elaborate scenery which some Met regulars seem to adore?
I agree in hoping that FRAU is not one of those fatalities. It is the one of the best opera productions that I have ever seen (and I am not that big a fan of the opera).
remember kristen chenoweth is in versailles — possibly there’s an expectation that will improve the draw?
i do hope this one survives the cut (not for cheno, but just cuz).
a little birdie told me Lulu, Nose, House and then there were two more which I forgot. Ghosts maybe was one of them. What happens to the singers and do they get paid? I mean some of these are international singers and for them to find something else this late will be difficult. That would explain now why they asked a singer I know if she is available next season for some Verdi.
She was amazed that they asked so late in the game but from what I heard they are planning at least one Verdi for some of that obscure stuff. Petersen has gotten rave reviews for her recent Chicago Lulu and I will miss that very much.
The Met has a long history of blowing its brains out over expensive new productions. I’d rather see the money saved on rep staples like Tosca, which will sell tickets if its well-sung one way or the other.
No institution can spend money as freely as the Met has done and then pass the cup. They have to tighten their belts just like anyone else. But if they’re going to become “greatest hits” repertory, that’ll catch up with them as well.
Unfortunately, in the big picture, a lot of tickets are sold for productions and not for singing. Big shame, in my view.
My thoughts
a) HOFFMANN has NETREBKO, VILLAZON, ANDDDD ELINA GARANCA……and BARTLETT SHER (who is now a legend in NY due to south pacific). Why the hell would they touch it?
b) The NOSE will star Paulo Szot, who just won the Tony for South Pacific, and the entire theatre community is obsessed with him.
c) GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES HAS KRISTIN CHENOWETH. If she can’t sell out, no one can. They should Not even think of axing it.
If one of those operas is really certain to get the chop, the one I would pick is the Nose.