I'll leave the Met vs. stage hands for others to duke out (as well as the sources of the current situations - musicians anyone?), but let's unpack that salary and benefits stat a little. What do we know about the Met? We know, for instance, that they do a great deal more in house than most everyone else. So a lot of things that would be vendor bills in a typical Broadway budget (even for most of the non-profits) are salaries and benefits at the Met. We know that they do not pay "rent" in the conventional sense. There are other elements but these two dramatically shift the balance.
