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case four royal opera house (1998–2000) .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................. .............................. .............................................................................. case five the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts (1995–1998) .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................. .............................................................................. .............................. index ......................... .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ......................... conclusion ......................... .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ......................... index of names ...................... .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ...................... Simply told, the story of my becoming executive director of the Royal Opera House goes like this: I heard the job was open through an article in the New York Times, I sent a letter to the chairman asking to be considered , and I was asked to a series of interviews after which I was offered the job. This account, though accurate, leaves out many illuminating details. After I read the New York Times story that Mary Allen had resigned as chief executive, I happened to bump into Lady Deborah MacMillan in the ABT lobby. Deborah, the widow of the great British choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, was on the board of American Ballet Theatre. I mentioned that I had heard that Mary was leaving and Deborah said that she thought I would make a good replacement. I had not thought about this job before, but I had read a great deal about the problems of the Royal Opera House. The renovation and expansion of the Royal Opera House had been in the works for seventeen years. The funding of the reconstruction and the cost of sending two major performing organizations (the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet) on the road for more than two years during an extended closure period were so enormous that the project was little more than a concept for most of those seventeen years. When the British government decided to create a lottery whose proceeds were meant to support the capital costs of building or re-­building arts facilities, the project became more of a real possibility than a dream. But the government made a tremendous political error. The entire first grant from the new lottery went to the Royal Opera House. The press and public outcry could have been forecast. Why was such an elitist organization receiving so much when others got nothing? The BBC documentary ....... 103 royal opera house The House only confirmed the general belief that the Royal Opera House was, at best, incompetent, and, at worst, completely devoted to the needs of the rich. There was some truth to both conclusions. The Opera House staff had done a wonderful job for years of coping with inadequate funding and difficult physical accommodations and continued to produce some of the best opera and ballet in the world. But the planning for the closure period was atrocious, and the costs were so much higher than projected that the organization faced a true threat of bankruptcy. And while government funding in England was enough to make the public and press believe that the arts should be readily and cheaply available to all, this funding was only one-third of the amount given to major continental opera houses. Ticket prices, therefore, had to be higher and private donors were becoming essential. This combination of political mistakes, television notoriety, financial problems, issues of class warfare, and a large cast of colorful characters created a situation that was fertile for tremendous press scrutiny. For a period of five years or so, the large and inquisitive British press made the Royal Opera House a fixture on the front page of every newspaper. And none of the coverage was positive. It was a deluge of negative press that is unparalleled in arts history. Three chief executives left within little more than a year. The Opera House was heading into bankruptcy with an accumulated deficit that was going to climb to almost $30 million. In addition to crushing staff morale and making the organization little more than a national joke, all of this coverage did nothing to help the Opera House raise the $100 million needed to complete funding for the renovation. Nor did the statements by the chair of the Royal Opera House Trust that all donors should withhold their donations until the government offered a “reasonable” subsidy to the organization. The Opera House became such fertile territory for the press that several reporters staked out at pubs across from the Opera House to intercept information from staff members and artists who went there for a beer after work. Several staff members developed relationships with members of the press and directed all internal emails to the offices of several major newspapers. So every concept, plan, decision, and departure was covered as the latest tidbit of this national scandal. [3.17.74.227] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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