dick or no dick?
In what will probably stand in history as her most wrong-headed judgment call ever, on December 24 La Cieca concluded that George Steel would not accept an offer from the New York City Opera. Your doyenne cited two reasons for her position: first, that the job wouldn’t have much in the way of art to offer for a few years as the company struggled to stay alive financially and second, that dumping Dallas for New York so early on would be either a dick move or else perceived as a dick move, which in the broader view amounts to the same thing.
The first (finance vs. art) reason may or may not apply: La Cieca really is as clueless about the NYCO’s finances as, say, Susan Baker. So let’s put that one aside for the moment and move on reason #2.
Well, cher public, what do you think? Is Steel behaving like a dick, and if so, why? Let’s begin by remembering that La Cieca doesn’t know the guy and is not very familiar with his work. So your doyenne is not going to jump to any conclusions. However, it does seem that Steel’s recent “Two-Face” behavior might be explained three different ways:
(A) Steel (though he is not a dick) is naive and doesn’t realize that his behavior comes off dickish.
(B) Steel (though he is not a dick) realizes his behavior comes off dickish, but figures with time and good work in the new position, the dicky smell will wear off.
(C) Steel is a dick, and as such NYCO should prepare for a major and brutal ass-fucking.
At the moment, La Cieca is leaning toward (B), with maybe a soupçon of (A), giving Steel the benefit of the doubt because of the floppy hair and the rimless glasses. Of course, the real proof of nondickery is in the pudding (La Cieca expresses herself badly) so we will all be waiting with great interest to hear reports of Steel’s first meetings with NYCO staff tomorrow. (That’s a hint, folks; La Cieca is fishing for gossip, and as always her word is her bond that sources remain confidential.)
C. Wham Bam Thank you Ma’am.
Anyone who thinks NYCO staffers were taking 45 minutes ciggy breaks has never been backstage at the State theater where an extremely dedicated and underpaid crew worked in cramped, windowless, underground offices day and night, literally! It’s insulting to think that resistance to Steel in Dallas and at NYCO has to do with laziness. People who actually have opera experience question his experience. Those questions have not been laid to rest by his wham bam thank you Ma’am stint in Dallas.
Passion for NYCO cannot be why he took the job. I doubt he has even been to NYCO, and I would bet my left nut he hasn’t been in the last season. Although attending some performances would have been a good lesson for him in programming since last season was pretty damn wonderful. Vanessa, Margerat Garner, Cav/Pag, King Arthur, Butterfly and Cendrillon were outstanding to me, and if you missed them so you could go to Met and see Ernani, I pity you. The idea they offered him a lot of money is a fantasy. This whole “season” has been a cash flow nightmare.
La Cieca impression of Steel’s capabilities and prospects at NYCO are correct. Unfortunately after rounds and rounds of layoffs there aren’t a lot of people actually working at NYCO. Robin Thompson, who was the in-house producer and artistic director and responsible for what was on stage, is leaving at the end of the week. The CFO left last week. So many development and marketing people have left that I can’t even tell you who, if anyone, is in charge of those departments. Assistant Directors, Makeup, Wigs, Costumes, all those departments were decimated when the theater went dark.
Alas, those are exactly the things Steel has no knowledge of. The only in tact entities are the orchestra and the stage crew.
This appointment is Susan Baker’s Hail Mary Pass. NYCO has already dipped into its endowment to payoff past debt. PK’s budgets were in the 42 million dollar range, NYCO ultimately offered Mortier a 34 million dollar budget. Fixed costs at NYCO eat up about 30 mill. Remember all those crack about cheap looking productions in the past at NYCO? Well children, those productions will look like Versailles compared to what Steel will be able to offer. His fans may think he’s a genius, but he is not a printing press.
If he wants to build new productions (and the blurb in the Times indicates he does) he will have to find the money to do so, and fast! However two other Opera companies have gone bust this year and all the ones I hear about (from the Met on down) are suffering. How Steel can convince anyone to give the 5-10 million dollars neccesary just to equal PK’s budget is beyond me. He may be charming, he may be be talented, but if the Met with all their resources, track record, star power, and huge development staff is cancelling productions (like “The Ghosts of Versailles”) it means the money is not out there.
Again and again it comes down to money, and as the NY Times pointed out Mr. Steel has no experience with fundraising. I’d like to see NYCO thrive of course, but I just don’t see it happening. I bet Steel bails by April, which would be about the same length of time he stayed in Dallas.
PS sorry I resigned last night, I thought we were done with this. Guess TF’s 15 minutes are not over.
Let’s think of it this way. Whoever can save NYCO from going under is going to be touted as a hero. Audiences will accept stripped down productions. At least the company is still here. The expectations are so low that anything short of a disaster will be considered a triumph. It’s like becoming President after W. He doesn’t have to be great. He just has to not be a disaster.
I am intrigued. I don’t know Steele, but am familiar with his work. This is interesting and I hope for the best. NYC needs NYCO and more importantly from my point of view, American opera singers need NYCO as a place to get noticed. Too many careers got a huge boost when emerging singers sang leading roles at Lincoln Center. The opera world without NYCO is too grim a prospect to consider.
Nerva: Apparently Steel works a crowd well, has very good manners and of course is a WASP which all is very NYT-friendly. Plus he is perceived as a doer of good works for the community, which fits right into the NYT “say nice things about good intentions” unwritten policy.
It does seem interesting that in the fields of dance and theater, where there is a lot of challenging brand-new stuff out there, the NYT critics have no problem labeling a new piece as crap. In classical music, where the programming is much meeker, the Times reviewers always include lots of wordage about how even though this piece was not up to much, the presenter should be lauded for doing it, part of the duty of an orchestra, etc. etc.
I am going to go with (B), mixed with NYCO offered him a lot of money and that he didn’t care for Dallas all that much. Also, it’s a great opportunity for him professionally (whether he succeeds or fails) and will lead to other, bigger things.
One question, and I hope someone does recall: Was Mortier told by the NYCO board that the TOTAL BUDGET they could offer him for NYCO would be $34 million, or that his budget for PRODUCTIONS would be $34 million? It makes a big difference. If their fixed costs are indeed $30 million, and he only has $4 million with which to put on 6-9 operas, that’s a problem. But if their fixed costs are $30 million with an additional budget of $34 million for production costs, then he should not have any problems at all putting on 6-9 very fine productions a year.
jatm2063: I think the former must be true. Physical productions for opera at NYCO don’t cost anything close to an average a million dollars per, particularly since most of them are shared or borrowed. So Mortier or Steel would be looking at something like $5 million for director and designer honoraria, construction, extra rehearsals and other costs associated with new productions. And from that $5 million would have to come the cost of renting and transporting whatever shows are borrowed from other companies.
This is just off the top of my head of course as I don’t know how things are line budgeted at NYCO.
After reading the comments following the link to the Dallas newspaper article, it is hard to believe any intelligent artist or manager would want to live or work in that city. The remarks are so full of homophobic epithets (limp-wristed, sissy glasses, etc.)that it shows the city to be the perfect home for our 43rd president to move to and the rest of us to stay away from.
Good luck Steel, you are going to need it.
Then that is indeed a tight squeeze on the purse strings. It can be done, however. He might have to spend a few seasons concentrating on outstanding revivals of things they already have rather than much new stuff. I personally do not need new productions all the time. A well cast, well sung, well directed, well conducted revival is equally appealing to a new production that may or may not be a success. Of course, Madame Butterfly year after year after year does get to be a bore, even if it’s beautifully done.
Ah well, interesting times. I admit to a mighty curiosity about how he’ll proceed. Will he stick to all or part of Mortier’s planned first season, or go off completely in his own direction.
All Knowing Seashell:
I heard the very same thing you heard about Dallas picking up Steel through a headhunter, and about Dallas being furious with the headhunter once Steel actually came aboard and the Board discovered, instantly, that Steel was the wrong person for the job from administrative, artistic and fund-raising viewpoints. I am told that Steel was informed by the Board last month that his future in Dallas was tenuous.
I think anyone who thinks there is a correlation between art/culture and liberal/conservative is either completely stupid or a moron.
The first question I would ask Mr. Steel at a press conference would be this:
“Tell us what production or productions you’ve seen at NYCO in the last ten years are ones you would point to as examples of what the company is doing well?”
I think that would tell us an awful lot.
Doing anything that even hints at Mortier’s involvement would be a huge mistake. Steel has to assert his own vision (presuming he has one) immediately, and let the past be the past. I do agree that doing middling productions of the standard repertory will get him nowhere. On the other hand he has to fill the coffers, and anything too avant garde simply won’t do that. At this point, what on earth can he program, and who’s going to sing it? We may not get a new season next year, either.
Turandot, did you forget you were never finished?
I’m astounded how people will not only spout the most preposterous misinformation (e.g., he “hasn’t done fund raising” when he raised all the money the Miller needed to extend its budget many times what it had been) and are even willing to “bet my left nut” on his non-attendance at NYCO!
First, they didn’t attend themselves or didn’t keep their eyes open if they really think that. (I recall seeing him there myself. He was seen at EVERY kind of classical music event in the city.) And such a statement is one more evidence of a laughable lack of sophistication about how the NYC musical world works. Steel wouldn’t have got very far not attending the NYCO when his board and the City Opera board shared a most munificent monied link.
Attention to such things paid off for him before, is paying off now, and will pay off for City Opera in future.
And it’s hard to believe that any human being thinks another would be more likely to have dough charmed out of them by Joe Volpe than by George Steel. Beggars the imagination.
voyagerx: Yes, comments on a website are the perfect way to accurately judge the intellectual climate of a city. Or, to take another instance, YouTube comments provide a striking international view of the finest representatives of humanity.
34 million is the total budget ultimately presented to Mortier. He was promised 60 mill by the board but the were not able to raise the funds. PK’s budgets were in the 42 mill range and with that the company carried a 5-7 million dollar deficit each year!
Puhlease folks, no one at NYCO has ever had anything like 34 million just for productions. So the 4 million (over the 30 mill fixed costs, rent and contracted employees; orchestra, ast. directors, stagehands) includes costs of the production (renting or building) singers, guest conductors, guest or additional musicians. I don’t know if the 4 million includes non-contract staff (administrators) but I bet it does.
And it will be pretty hard for Mr. Steel to rent productions from other companies that he has never even seen! Also, none of the Mortier productions, which were all rentals from Europe, are going to be available to Mr. Steel. They were available to Mortier because of personal connections, etc. And at that they were expensive, too expensive for this new reduced budget.
He will literally have to go into the warehouse at NYCO and see what he likes. I don’t think he has any other options.
He might have to spend a few seasons concentrating on outstanding revivals of things they already have rather than much new stuff…Of course, Madame Butterfly year after year after year does get to be a bore, even if it’s beautifully done.
I should think that the Kellogg regime would have left behind a few productions worth reviving of operas less routine than Butterfly, while NYCO gets their act together. For starters, what about the Christopher Alden Mother of us all or the Mark Morris Platee?
Indiana: The Platee is a very good idea indeed. The Mother, however, never did any business, despite a terrific cast and a great, great production. So a revival of that piece would be at best a loss leader.
Alto, all I can say is if GS was at NYCO last season, he kept a very low profile. Tells us what he saw? We would all like to know.
I was at a number of opening nights last season sitting near the VIP seats and never saw him. Just to say “He was seen.” isn’t really much, if any information. Not very different from me saying “He was not seen.” Tell us what he saw and you can singlehandedly put to rest this ugly ugly rumor (which I too have heard) that he is ignorant of the repetoire. Inquiring minds want to know….
Yes please on the Platee–I had very good luck talking people who don’t normally go to the opera into seeing that, and everyone enjoyed it immensely.
Rameau. Hmmmm. Not a baroque fan but that was indeed very cute and fun.
But he’ll find something that suits him, regardless of what the rest of us think of it.
I’m going out on a limb and guessing that there will definitely be some sort of season next year. It may be shorter, with fewer works than was usual under PK. But, he’s been hired to get things going. If things don’t get going, then they are paying him for nothing. Also, if the board did tell Mortier they had $34 million for him, one presumes they still have approximatey $34 million for Mr. Steel.
I agree about the “Platee.” Attending it was not only enjoyable, but the downtown dance and haute couture crowds drew an unusually young audience for it the night I attendee: they looked like the clientele on any given night at Florent, or some other hipster hangout.
“The Mother of Us All,” while a brilliant production, really didn’t sell at all. It also worked much better in the intimate theater at Glimmerglass, albeit with a mixed-bag cast, and didn’t transfer as well as I’d hoped into the State Theater.
And, please, NYCO: NO MORE JONATHAN MILLER. He is Exhibit A that it is possible to be a highly intelligent, witty individual, without possessing one iota of talent as a stage director.
alto: I am not the NY music scene insider you obviously are, but I hardly think it “beggars the imagination” to think that Joe Volpe, having run the largest opera company in the world for 16 years (42 years in total), might know just a little bit more about such things than George Steel whose been doing this since October. Yes, he was at the Miller (a lovely venue, with the top ticket price being $35), but it’s simply not the same thing. Does Volpe have one-tenth the artistic sensibility of Miller? Of course not, but that wasn’t my point.
I do, however, absolutely agree with you that it’s ludicrous to think that Steel never once managed to find himself at NYCO.
All-Knowing Seashell: Unfortunately, the Morris Orfeo at the Met demonstrated that lighting doesn’t strike twice.
Eons ago,a certain GD from a certain Southern State immediately jumped ship to go for greener pastures. That person is still there and the marriage is still ongoing.
I just hope that NYCO is REALLY a greener pasture for Mr. Steel.
He faces equal challenges in fund raising and developing a wider audience aside from balancing the budget and presenting an exciting and varied operatic repertoire in these two companies.
I don’t like to comment any pros or cons to his move but hopefully he has made a wiser decision for himself,his family and the company he will soon engage.
TT
Id love to comment but a couple of my cows just out of the fence out back so i gotta go round em up…
Please MrMyster…Dallas has more people that MOVED here that were actually BORN here… Ive spent a goodly amount of time in Santa Fe and while Dallas is hardly my favorite city in the world, Im alot happier here than I would be in Santa Fe I think.
Well, well, I thought High C’s had disappeared entirely. So nice for him to be back.
TIMMAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!
I just want to know how much the boy wonder pays Alto?
The NYCO needs a genius- someone who knows all about the art of opera and everything about voices. It’s clear the the administrators haven’t heard about Parterre- there are heaps of them in here
It might not make for the most intriguing libretto, but it’s completely possible for a talented person with good intentions to take on the role at Dallas, and then find himself face-to-face with the chance to lead the NYCO — a great thing for him, a great thing for the NYCO, a great thing for opera in the US. Being realistic about where the best alchemy is possible doesn’t make you a dick, and doesn’t mean you leave the previous company in a bad place if you handle it right. Folks in the know in Dallas tell me that’s exactly how it’s perceived there — without all the rancor and sour grapes implied in a bunch of the other posts. Boring and straightforward — oh well….
Anyone who wants to know how Dallas feels about Steel’s leaving can read the article in the January 17 edition of The Dallas Morning News by Dallas’s classical music critic Scott Cantrell. He gets it ALL out there! Wonder no more….