The Met had previously hoped to restart its season on Dec. 31, 2020, but now says it has been advised by its health officials to wait until the fall, or a time at which “a vaccine is widely in use, herd immunity is established, and the wearing of masks and social distancing is no longer a medical requirement,” according to a press release.
16 comments:
I had just read the press release for this decision yesterday and was very shocked. The stress of not making enough revenue has prompted many theater companies to look for other ways to put on shows - however, I think that the Met is making a safer decision by cancelling their upcoming season. The Met relies on Ticket and Subscriber sales (as well as their online subscription, DVD, and other sales) and having reduced audience numbers will not help them cover the costs to put these shows on. The Met will often have three shows happening in Rep at the same time, and that commitment alone is a lot to ask of workers during a global pandemic. As an audience member, it also makes sense that if you are making the effort to go to the Met - you would want to go see it in all it’s classic glory. While the Met has a lot of affordable ticket deals, many of their tickets are quite expensive, and the quality of the show during a pandemic may be altered - rendering the price you paid for the experience as a sham. It will be interesting to see if the Met plans other events for what would have been their season as a way to stay engaged with members and other community groups.
This sort of news I think can have some sort of trickle effect in the industry at large. The Met being the US largest Opera company holds a great deal of power and with them pushing programming back even further indicates to me that other companies particularly those with larger budgets and revue streams are thinking similarly. Not being operate with social distancing of course is huge part of this decision and without a true vaccine out yet its hard to say when we will be back to “normal” performances. I just hope over the course of this off time it doesn’t hurt the companies too much financially. Donations won’t be enough so they need some form of revenue stream to in order to maintain productions. And I think the longer this goes the harder and harder the ramp up back to productions will be. Cutting costs, reducing labor, shrinking shows will need to happen in order for companies to start back up. It just makes you wonder even hey come back in the fall of 2021 will be 2023 until they are back producing at the same level they were in February?
I want to say I am surprised by this delayed opening, but it is hard to be surprised nowadays. I am more surprised by indoor places opening than I am by them remaining closed. It does make it harder to hope that this pandemic will be over sooner rather than later, but I still do hope it will be over soon for the sake of people surviving more than anything else. I would like to think that if things get better they can decide to open sooner, but I respect them for keeping their doors shut. The article does say the fall of 2021 or a time where we are not dictated by a need for the CDC’s guidelines and several months after there is a vaccine. This could be before 2021 or worst case, past the fall of 2021. The article uses “at least” in reference to Broadway being closed. I would be interested to see if the industry ends up opening plays before musicals due to singing seemingly being a “super spreader” of the virus. The comment that Broadway can’t financially handle social distanced performances is interesting. I know even though Broadway tickets are expensive, it is interesting that it is seeming financially better to not open at all than to have a physically distanced audience. I am really curious about equity and union contracts in times like these and how they will change going forward. I hope that whenever the world reopens, it is safe to do so and going to be best for everyone.
-Ariel Bernhard
This is truly heartbreaking. To hear that one of the world’s most notable opera companies has to take an additional year off is still shocking and a hard pill to swallow even in the midst of everything else getting cancelled. It’s a common belief that the art of opera is “dying” or is not keeping up with the times, and I pray that the continued cancellation of it won’t be another nail in its coffin. All things considered, now is an amazing time for opera professionals to take a look at their art form and think of ways to make it more accessible and even modern perhaps. We all know that the way we practice and perform theatre will be radically different when we are allowed to be face to face again, and maybe opera will follow suit. While the curtain remains closed on the stage of the Met, hopefully they’ll continue to stream their past productions on platforms that will make a new type of audience enchanted by opera. They could definitely take a page out of the Royal Opera House in London’s playbook for doing this, considering they’ve had wonderful success with streaming ballets and opera on YouTube all summer long.
Although it is sad to see that the Met will not have productions until 2021, I can understand why they would be wary about planning for productions within the next year. Planning such a large-scale production, like theirs, can be extremely expensive and time-consuming. If they are not able to put on the production, that could mean tons of time wasted for producers to obtain rights, finding directors, designers, actors, etc.. It would mean losing tons of money on obtaining rights and paying people out of their contracts. These expenses in time and money completely outweigh the benefits of MAYBE being able to put on a production. It’s not like they would be able to even control if they can or can’t, too. Their local authorities could put a halt on large gatherings which would force the production team to stop working. Even if they had to delay the show for weeks or months that could be a devastating financial impact. Depending on the contracts the Met gives out, they could be required to pay out some portion of the money and many spectators may request refunds.
Yeah, this makes me a little angry. It feels unfair that the Met can do this without fear of consequence. It is a huge, heavy institution that most likely has enough money to keep running without doing shows for years. It is also the leader of opera in America, and it has a huge amount of sway in the industry. They chose to close up shop for the year and then come back and spend less money (and hire fewer people). What they could do instead is use their immense facility to help the industry find ways to survive. They could be hiring people to do research or to develop cool virtual performances, they could be finding ways to provide for the hundreds of workers who are no longer getting paid. Instead, they’re streaming recordings of old productions and concerts by opera stars. They’re serving their audience and donors only.
Yeah, I am not surprised, to be honest. I completely understand the want and need to create theatre as it used to be. But, you know, we just can’t do that yet. We have to protect our artists, technicians, and patrons. I also am hesitant to be so reliable on herd immunity as well. Maybe I have not read enough about this recently, but were there not articles from the CDC that was doubting if herd immunity was a thing that was possible with Covid? I thought there were cases of people getting reinfected with the virus after already contracting it? I strongly believe the time we have in ‘shutdown’ should be used to researching new ways to present theatre, opera, and dance. We know streaming and virtual theatre works in some ways. Why don’t large companies like the Met or even, you know, Broadway try and take the lead in researching new ways for our industry to thrive?
The news of the Met shutting down their 2020-21 season is quite disappointing and sending shocks throughout the theatre industry, particularly in New York City. When I first heard the announcement, I knew that there is no way that Broadway or other large performance venues are going to open this performance year. In March when the Met announced that it was not opening until January, Broadway announced shortly after that they would have to be closed until then. This is rough news for the hundreds of thousands of workers and performers who will be job less for more than an entire year. What I am most worried about is the rippling affects this will have to the New York City economy, especially because of the lack of tourists that will be in the city. This is going to negative impact the struggling restaurant, hotel and shopping industry’s because there will be considerably less people in the city.
This news from the Met sent a shock through the community, for sure. I remember seeing it pop up all over my Instagram feed as soon as it was announced. I don’t think it surprises me much, more that it makes it more real, once again, how hard hit the entertainment industry is by the virus, and how long those effects will last (even after a vaccine). It is still heartbreaking to hear this about the Met; I loved going there as a child with my parents (especially the family version of the Magic Flute they’ve done a few times!) but I understand that trying to make the health requirements work in a space where so often people are right next to one another is not only a safety concern, but a financial one. If the Met wants to continue their beautiful operas in the future, they need to make decisions that might better sustain them through the pandemic.
Whilst I appreciate all of the optimism (or at least, the optimism that existed a few months ago), and it's good to make hopeful predictions, I am not surprised that things are being pushed back. Lots of places had expected to be opening up pretty soon, but as we get closer to the dates with no solid solution to COVID-19, many companies are having to go back on their initial plans and extend their closures. With everything that's occurred in academia, this is not a surprise. I guess that's why I, a student, can sit here and say "yea," when I read titles such as this one, rather than get all worked up in shock. I think we should all continue to be hopeful but also refrain from being ignorant. Granted, ignorance is bliss, so if an infinite amount of optimism helps anyone get through these days, by all means, expect to go back to normal pretty soon. However, realistically thinking, we still have some ways to go so I think we should expect a few more announcements such as this one, or something similar.
Ugh! This is just sad. We were the first industry to shut down and will be the last to re-open. What irritates me the most is that schools (and states) are super focused on sports and allowing kids to play sports but are silent on the Arts. This just goes to show that our industry is still considered a hobby. The other problem are the people who think this virus is a hoax, who refuse to practice social distancing, wear a mask, take care of their health, as well as an administration that calls it a hoax and is openly hostile to the Arts. This will leave over 1000 people out of work for another year and I don’t see the State of New York doing anything to help out places like the Met. It’s a shame that we are continued to be seen as disposable entertainment. I only hope that we can recover quickly once we open, though I see it taking a year or more once we fully open to get back to normal. Let’s hope that places like the Met survive.
While personally I have never been a huge fan of opera, the Metropolitan closing their doors until fall of 2021 is a huge setback for theatre. The live event industry is such a small world that when big players, like the Met, make decisions like this, other regional and local theatres follow causing a domino effect of closures. COVID has wreaked havoc for theatre companies which can have many different lasting effects. The Met is fortunate enough to have such large budgets and revenue that they may not be as financially barron as other theatres that have been forced to close their doors forever. While I still remain optimistic for the theatrical future in 2021, places such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles may be the last regions to open again due to the large draw of people. With all this being said, I am really glad that theatres are making the tough decisions to halt productions instead of opening back up in unsafe conditions for performers, technicians, and audience members.
Even though this article is talking about operas and the Met, the larger narrative that it tells is extremely troubling for the entire live entertainment industry. As the article highlights, Broadway and the theater industry at large have much the same restrictions on what would allow it to reopen as places like the Met, meaning that it probably is only a matter of time until it gets delayed too. Even more concerning than the delayed reopening is the fact that many companies will likely be unable to reopen once live production is finally safe to do. When even the Metropolitan Opera, which is by no means a small company, is concerned about the financial impacts of this pandemic on its potential reopening, the alarm bells should start going off. Of course, every industry has been impacted by the pandemic in some form or another. However, I can't see almost any industry that is facing the same challenges as live entertainment. Of any industry, we will be perhaps the last to reopen due to the spacial and financial challenges being imposed on us due to the dangers the pandemic presents. Without significant assistance from either outside donors or the government, I can't see many companies being able to emerge from this even once a vaccine has been created and widely administered. And honestly, the fact that attention hasn't seemed to be given to this huge dilemma from anyone outside of our industry is just infuriating.
When I heard this news it was truly devastating. I have been watching the live streams from the Met ever since their closure in March. The Met is such a large institution of newyork and the preforming arts in america and the world. Although the news is sad, I can understand that they have to wait until things are pretty much back to normal. The way the met runs and how operas operate, theres really not much that can be changed or adjusted for covid requirements. The Met has one of the largest base of arts employees in the nation and it is disheartening that all these lovely folks will be lost and jobless for the unforeseeable future. I hope that we are able to have a vaccine soon and the legislation is able to pass bills to protect arts workers of the opera and broadway/ theatre community. In the meanwhile I look forward to the live stream performances the met has been presenting.
I don’t really know how to feel about this. At first when I read this, I was really taken aback because I wouldn’t not expect the MET to shut down for such a long time, but also it’s been shut down and again is only a matter of time before a lot of places are forced to shut down because it too much money to uphold especially during this pandemic where everyone is really struggling to get money and get people to give them money as well. So I feel like, yes, this made me sad and I’m sure a lot of New Yorkers are disappointed with this information but it’s solely because of the pandemic and that there is no one bringing in their money. The MET’s money is mainly from their ticket sales so but shutting it down they have no source of income, but also it’s difficult as a museum to be in the middle of a pandemic where all you do is welcome people inside and thats the main aspect of it all that they can’t find a way around.
God the whole pandemic situation is frustrating. I’m glad the Met is recognizing the health risks of reopening for both workers and patrons, but I’m worried about the precedent it sets for the rest of the industry. Small theaters, and even many large theaters, simply can’t afford to stay closed for that long - the article points out that even the Met itself is concerned about the financial implications. I’m angry that it’s even necessary to be having the conversation of opening before it’s safe to do so because companies will collapse and/or workers will starve if they don’t, and I think examples like this are a major reason to be pushing for the arts assistance legislation in congress right now, so that we can put public health first. That said, the Met remaining closed this year is a blow to the industry, both due to the loss of art and the fact that Broadway may follow its footsteps. I understand, though, that anything they try to produce this year would feel shallow and pale in comparison to their ‘normal’ season, and that from an artistic perspective it may actually be better to wait until it’s possible to do it ‘for real’.
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