| re: James Levine passed away over a week ago | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 02:46 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 02:39 pm EDT 03/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: James Levine passed away over a week ago - Michael_Portantiere 01:21 pm EDT 03/18/21 | |
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| Some of the posters below immediately kind of make points I agree with, but I think Bing didn't want something akin to Hammerstein's opera company (which had given performances in NYC around the time the old Met commenced) or another opera company hiring world-class singers to compete with the Met in its new location. The old house when you see photos and videos of it, was a gloriously beautiful auditorium with much history and apparently excellent acoustics, despite its drawbacks backstage for scenery and some really bad sightlines in the house. But it was also a few blocks from the Broadway district -- it also could have housed some big musical extravaganza, even not selling seats with no view or blocked view of the stage, or done operas without hugely complicated and massive scenic requirements, since space was so limited. Or possibly rather than do a full-week of different operas every day, it could have been like some European houses where sometimes several performances of the same opera are done in a row, making the shifting of scenery more manageable. Or the theater could have been used for concerts, etc. Bing was a savvy manager who had run a world-class opera house before, and he didn't want direct competition in NY with the Met. He stressed the kinds of disadvantages of the old Met to get financing and the building of the new Met, but also made sure the old one would be destroyed. I don't think it needed to be. That's my point. There's a documentary about "The Opera House" from a few years ago that goes into this in further detail with great videos of the old Met and wonderful commentary from Leontyne Price in particular. | |
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