by Paul J. Pelkonen
Metropolitan Opera manager Peter Gelb is trying to keep all his balls (and a banana) in the air.
Original image of Peter Gelb © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera. Cartoon image from
Queen's album Innuendo, based on an image from the French artist J.J. Grandville.
Logos of AGMA, Local 1 and Local 802 are © the respective unions.
Those previews get posted in the summer as part of our preview of the coming season. Then, over the next nine months, the articles get re-posted and updated to reflect casting change and news stories, usually a week before the shows take the stage.
However, as the clock ticks down on the labor negotiations between the Met and fifteen of its labor unions (whose collective bargaining agreements all expire on July 31) there is some question as to whether or not there will be a full, or even partial schedule of performances at America's biggest opera house.
Since Superconductor believes in covering its bases (as well as its basses, baritones and tenors) it's time to start working on this year's Met preview. So as of this writing, there will be twenty-four articles for the six new productions and eighteen revivals.
Each article will include plot previews, notes on the performers, recording recommendations and general information on opening dates for each show. They'll be written over the next month and will appear on the blog as part of the run-up to the (currently scheduled) opening night of September 22, which is scheduled to feature a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro.
Alongside this, Superconductor will also do its best to cover the labor negotiations as general manager Peter Gelb does battle with the orchestra, singers, dancers, stage crew, ushers....in fact with the whole opera company. As of this writing, things don't look good. But the show must go on.
