Wow, news gets around fast! Within an hour after La Cieca mentioned in passing the sorry state of the peeling gold-leaf ceiling at the Met, a staffer from the house (requesting anonymity) emailed saying that this particular bit of upkeep is, sadly, not to be included among the “nips and tucks” preliminary to the new season. Our tipster says that he

asked what was the status of its repair, and was basically told that they are of course aware of it, but it’s just too expensive, requires shutting down the hall for a period of weeks while the repairs are happening, and that the artisans who do this work well are few and far between and in Europe, so … don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. To me it’s a glaring problem in a company which is trying to build a new, impressed-with-the-glam-of-the-‘opera’ audience, but hey, there you are.