Met Lockout

[dreaming]

I go to the Met regularly and am watching as events which appear to be headed towards a lock out unfold. (I have been barraged by phone calls from the Met asking for donations and assuring me they were doing everything possible to work out agreements, blah, blah, blah.) Anyway, I was wondering at what point will the Board or whoever sit down and do what needs to be done...fire Peter Gelb. (Is there a process for this? He's flushing money down the toilet on some of these productions-and politically I've begun to have sharp differences with certain things.)

[Mr Roxy]

It is not only him. The unions there are a tad inflexible re work rule changes that would save money. There is enough blame for everybody in this instead of finding one scapegoat.

[dreaming]

Part of my beef with Gelb is that the quality of the productions has gone down-and that's NOT the unions' faults-it's his leadership (or lack thereof-not sure which). The senseless spending of money on that new Ring Cycle that was just awful. (And lots of other misfires as well.)

[PalJoey]

I liked the Ring Cycle.

[ghostlight2]

Gelb has been angling to make unions (all 16 of them) his scapegoat. Gelb has more than doubled spending in the past eight years, and now he's looking to hang it all on the unions.

He says he cut his own salary to a mere 1.4 MILLION, but neglects to mention he had just given himself a raise.

Rather than continue to negotiate, Gelb is likely to lock out the unions, cutting off heath insurance for hundreds of families unless they agree to 17% in cut backs - and he'll lose the season - not to mention possibly the Met itself, in the process. The situation as it stands is almost wholly mismanagement on Gelb's part.

He should have been fired years ago. He should be fired now.




Mr. Gelb’s Disastrous Interview

[dreaming]

Glad someone else agrees that Gelb has to go.

PalJoey, I'm glad you liked the Ring Cycle. (I personally saw one installment-more than enough.) And he's had too many misfires and mismanaged this institution long enough. It's time for someone else to take over.

[Islander_fan]

I love going to the Met. But, I agree, I think that Gelb has had one screw up too many and refuses to give a public mea culpa. I agree with one of the statements that the union made regarding the situation. Gelb has had a tendency of mounting and then reviving productions that not only got bad reviews from the critics. But, as a result of those bad reviews didn't get that many folks through the door either. And, it's not like this was a situation that happened once. It's happened many times.

I honestly don't understand why the board hasn't stepped in, and hasn't both made a statement regarding the whole thing or even talked about firing Gelb. That's something that really makes me scratch my head.

[PalJoey]

I think the chances of Gelb stepping down or the board forcing him to are zero. I would imagine that the board supports him in this 100% or he wouldn't be going so far out on a limb. The board doesn't just administer a trust fund--they're the ones who have to do the corporate and private fundraising.

I'm afraid that what happened to the New York City Opera is going to happen in some form to the Met.

[Islander_fan]

@ PalJoey

As much as I hate to say it, I think you're right. Just the fact that this is going on is something that annoys me. I love The Met and going to the opera every year. I just feel that this situation is getting/has gotten out of hand.

[ghostlight2]

"I'm afraid that what happened to the New York City Opera is going to happen in some form to the Met."

Gelb's ill-advised ultimatum all but assures this.I don't know what the board is thinking, allowing him to threaten people's livelihoods this way and risking the very institution he was hired to promote.
Save the Met

[frogs_fan85]

It's refreshing to read this set of opinions about what is happening at the Met as opposed to what is being said on Parterre.

Believe me when I tell you, what you're reading online and in the papers is nothing compared to what is actually happening inside the Opera House itself.

[PalJoey]

Keep a diary.

[FindingNamo]

How's the snack bar staff holding out?

[ghostlight2]

The smaller and less powerful unions (cleaners, ticket takers, ushers, security guards - and yes, the "snack bar staff", as you call them) will be hit hardest of all, but it isn't just the unions that will be affected. Neighboring restaurants and other businesses that do work for and with the Met will suffer.

Not to mention, those who will want to maintain their health insurance will now face $1,000-$2,000 per month Cobra payments.

As of August 1st.



One non union business that will see the affects

[dreaming]

Has anyone else gotten phone call after phone call now asking for donations? They sure have upped the ante on them. YUCK.

I just say fire the man-maybe then they'll get something done.

[frogs_fan85]

The Met's fiscal year end is tomorrow, so that may be partially the reason you've experienced an uptick in donation requests.

[PalJoey]

Maureen Dowd, of all people, gives some nice overview in the NY Times today:


NY TIMES: Maureen Dowd: Night at the Opera?

[ghostlight2]

Dowd's piece reads to me as little more than a plea for sympathy for Gelb (his father was her mentor, as she says herself). Gelb dropped out of Yale, can't take criticism, isn't sure if he's right or not - yet he is almost certainly dead-set on locking the unions out because it is the only way he can think of to get the unions' attention. Interesting he likens himself to a lion tamer - what does that say about what he thinks of his workers?

The man is out of touch. He thinks opera is a dinosaur. Is this who we want in charge?


Besides, lock-outs have been so successful in the past - haven't they?

[dreaming]

I want Gelb out. And I am a frequent attendee. I think he needs to get his priorities straight. I'm still reeling over last year's issues with the attitudes of certain individuals (I'm sure you know of what I speak) and the appropriateness of supporting and celebrating a culture which at that time was spewing hateful vitriol against a group that gives money and support to the Met. Now, he goes after the people in the least position to ante up. $1.4 million for messing up an art form I love.

I think it takes 2 people to run the Met, one an artist, the other from the business end. I know who SHOULD be the former, not sure about the latter.

[Brian07663NJ]

After reading the above I am curious how Gelb got this job. Is this a case of it being not what you know but who you blow...I mean...who you know.

[morosco]

New York's Metropolitan Opera labour dispute: a symptom of a company in crisis

[After Eight]

What it all boils down to is this: if the product is bad, people won't want to buy it.

The disastrous productions of Faust (several), Manon (several), Tales of Hoffmann, Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Rigoletto... The list goes on and on.

Once burned, twice shy, so the saying goes. When they burn you once, twice, ten times and more, do they really expect you to come back for more of the same?

One poster here in a previous thread was ever so blase about the possibility of a person's not being able to see a decent Faust or Manon in an entire lifetime. Yes, indeed, it's mighty easy to be cavalier--- and callous and stupid --- about other people's wishes, time, and money. But the paying customers are not likely to feel the same way, and good for them if they turn their backs once and for all on the whole sorry business.

[PalJoey]

Deus ex machina?



NY TIMES: Met Opera Proposes Federal Mediator for Labor Talks

[morosco]

Deus ex machina?

Nope. They already tried that. lol

[PalJoey]

Watch out, unions--Gelb is bringing out...LA MACHINE!

[DottieD'Luscia]

After Eight, thank you!! My mom and I both detested that hideous newish production of Hansel and Gretel. I wish they would bring back the earlier production which happened to be my first opera at the Met back in 1975.