Far below, beyond the constellation of Austrian-crystal chandeliers, the canti-levered plush red staircases, and the swirly 36-foot-tall Marc Chagall murals, the tuxedoed and begowned are arriving to celebrate the premiere of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s memoir. Could it happen to the Met, too?īut there is no time to think about that tonight. After all, the 70-year-old New York City Opera, with which it shared Lincoln Center, ran aground in 2013.

In its 138-year history, the institution had never been so imperiled. That time in which the hall sat empty, its innards decaying, cost the Met $150 million in revenue and threw its problems into relief. Gelb waived his own salary for nine months. The Met furloughed 1,000 people the orchestra and chorus went unpaid. He’s looking down on something thrilling, if slightly terrifying.ĭuring the months of the pandemic inside the darkened opera house, pieces of the dormant machinery that powers the mammoth sets began to rust, break, and fall apart. It’s opening night at the Met, one of the most sacred evenings in the cultural and civic life of the city. “I haven’t been up here in 16 months,” he says dazedly.

Dressed head to toe in black Armani, Peter Gelb is white-knuckling the railing on the sixth floor of the Metropolitan Opera House.

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