NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Despite encouraging box office figures for the season’s first half, the financially strapped scaled back its 2026-27 schedule with its fewest productions in at least 60 years.
The Met announced Thursday it will present 17 productions, its lowest total in a non-truncated season since the company moved to Lincoln Center in 1966. There are just five new stagings, and revivals of three popular operas account for 71 of the 187 individual opera performances (38%): Puccini鈥檚 鈥淭osca鈥� and 鈥淟a Boh猫me,鈥� and Verdi鈥檚 鈥淎ida.鈥�
鈥淚t makes more sense for us, and this is an experiment 鈥� to present these works in extended runs,鈥� Met general manager Peter Gelb said. 鈥淎nd by double-casting them, it also is more economic in terms of how many different shows are playing in one week.鈥�
Ticket sales of 72% this season are up from 70% in the first half of 2024-25.
鈥淏asically, it鈥檚 back to ,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not grossing as much money because the average price per ticket is slightly less than it was, because we have a younger audience and more discounted tickets.鈥�
Mason Bates鈥� 鈥淭he Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,鈥� which opened the current season in its world premiere, sold 84% of tickets in a success rate that prompted the Met to schedule an extra four performances this month.
鈥淥ne of my goals at the Met is to stimulate new audiences with new works,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淭his one was one of the most successful we鈥檝e presented so far.鈥�
鈥淜avalier鈥� was followed by an English-language holiday time staging of Mozart鈥檚 鈥淭he Magic Flute鈥� (83%), (82%), Puccini鈥檚 鈥淭urandot鈥� (77%), Puccini鈥檚 鈥淢adama Butterfly鈥� (74%), 鈥淭he Gershwin鈥檚 Porgy and Bess鈥� (73%), and Donizetti鈥檚 鈥淟a Fille du R茅giment,鈥� Bizet鈥檚 鈥淐armen,鈥� Bellini鈥檚 鈥淟a Sonnambula鈥� and 鈥淏oh猫me鈥� (68% each).
Lagging were Mozart鈥檚 鈥淒on Giovanni鈥� and Strauss鈥� 鈥淎rabella鈥� (64% each) and Giordano鈥檚 鈥淎ndrea Chenier鈥� (57%).
Next season opens on Sept. 22 with a new production of Verdi鈥檚 鈥淢acbeth鈥� starring soprano Lise Davidsen and directed by Louisa Proske.
Composer Missy Mazzoli鈥檚 鈥淟incoln in the Bardo,鈥� based on George Saunders鈥� novel, has its world premiere on Oct. 19 and stars Christine Goerke, Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Peter Mattei in a staging directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
There are three new-to-the Met productions: Jan谩膷ek鈥檚 鈥淛en暖fa鈥� starring Asmik Grigorian in a Claus Guth staging that debuted at London鈥檚 Royal Opera in 2021 (Nov. 16); Puccini鈥檚 鈥淟a Fanciulla del West鈥� with Sondra Radvanovsky and SeokJong Baek in a Richard Jones staging that premiered at the English National Opera in 2014 (Dec. 31); and the company premiere of Kevin Puts鈥� 鈥淪ilent Night鈥� featuring Elza van den Heever and Rolando Villazon in a James Robinson staging first seen at the Houston Grand Opera last month (March 8, 2027).
A gala with more than two dozen stars is scheduled for May 25, 2027, to mark the company鈥檚 60th season at Lincoln Center.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a kind of golden age of opera singing,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淭he only difference between today and 30 or 40 years ago is that 30 or 40 years ago opera was much more .鈥�
鈥淟incoln鈥� was not included among the eight simulcasts to move theaters due to a post-pandemic drop in audience.
鈥淎 title that is unknown, even with whatever maximum efforts of marketing and publicity that are done, will underperform to a degree where it is not really financially viable for the movie theaters or for us,鈥� Gelb said.
A Simon McBurney staging of Mussorgsky鈥檚 鈥淜hovanshchina鈥� was postponed as part of budget tightening that included 22 layoffs and 4-15% temporary salary cuts.
鈥淯nfortunately, I have to wear two hats,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淚 have to wear my artistic hat, and I have to wear my financial hat.鈥�
Next season will be Gelb’s 20th anniversary season as general manager, and he says he intends to retire when his current contract expires in 2030.
鈥淭hat certainly is our current plan,鈥� Gelb said.
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