Talk story about the Metropolitan Opera, which opened its centennial season on Monday night with an unprecedented amount of money in the bank ($23 million) and a 5-hour production of Hector Berlioz's "Les Troyens." It is based on work by Virgil and a shorter version of the opera put on by the Met in 1973. It has been expanded and reworked by James Levine, the conductor; Fabrizio Melano, the new director; and Peter Wexler, its original designer. Writer visited the Met ten days before the opening night. Tells about the rehearsals, the changes in the production, and conversations with Wexler, Melano, and stage manager Tom Connell. Writer talked to the general manager, Anthony Bliss, who has announced his impending retirement from the post after nine years. He explained that when he began, nobody believed that the company would survive because of lack of funds. He told how he raised money: "I cashed in some good-will brownie points with various foundations, over-hauled the entire organization, strengthened and computerized our financial and fund raising operations, brought in some very hardworking new people on the board.O Writer asked what will happen when he leaves. Mr. Bliss explained that the next general manager should be an administrator and not a frustrated artist who will try to impose amateur policies on the professional artistic staff: OThe general manager's job, as I see it, is to make it possible for our artistic directors to realize at least some of their ideas, their hopes and their dreams, within the framework of financial reality."
↧