"I'm guessing that the thinking was that someone might start a new opera company and move into the old theatre, despite it's obvious limitations."
I would say the chances of a new opera company being formed that would have remotely had the resources and popularity to move into the old Metropolitan Opera house were so infinitesimally small as to be practically zero. If anything, perhaps Bing feared that the New York City Opera might move to the old Met opera house? I'm not sure if that possibility was ever even mentioned, not am i sure of the timeline of the decision that NYCO would move into the New York State Theater, thereby becoming even more direct competition for the Met in terms of being located RIGHT NEXT TO IT at Lincoln Center!
"Bing wanted his company at the new theatre to be THE place in New York to go to for a night at the opera. And Bing did such a good job of it that, even in a city as large as New York, there are no opera companies that even come close to rivaling the Met. NYCO gave them a run for their money for awhile, but couldn't sustain it."
Just for the record, NYCO sustained it -- first at City Center, then at the New York State Theater -- for about 70 years, which is quite a long while :-) |
