Just in: Met changes last-minute ticket policy
mainPaul Pelkonen stopped by the Met yesterday to score a late ticket for the Meistersinger revival. Whaddaya know? They’ve changed the rules.
With one box office window open, a helpful clerk gave me a single-sheet document, outlining the company’s altered policy. There was no press release e-mailed toSuperconductor and no announcement on the Met website.
Rush tickets are now available day-of-show, on the Metropolitan Opera website starting at 12pm Monday through Friday. The tickets are available only through the website, and must be purchased online, picked up at the box office or simply printed out and brought to the theater.
Read Paul here.
Apparently, the idea is to stop punters scoring too many cheap tickets, but the level of customer communications is reminiscent of the Bolshoi in Soviet times. Whatever the policy, it;s not working. Paul saw yards of empty seats last night.
Thanks for your comment. It is, in my opinion, one of the best I have read on Slippedisc this year. Enjoy the operas!
Actually I’m “my own” Mr. Pelkonen. Thanks for your link to the press release it somehow missed my inbox. Will correct accordingly.
P
Corrections added to the article which appears here on Superconductor.
This post is a great example of why people should not pay close attention to this blog, or give substantial respect/attention to it or its author.
He misreads news articles and then writes outraged posts about them. Or he builds posts around his unfounded personal opinions (i.e. “Wolfgang Rihm is a terrible composer so he should not receive awards or commissions.”) (Not that having opinions is wrong, but it’s nice to see a reasonable basis or argument for them other than “everyone agrees!”) Or, as above, he blusters about second-hand reports (otherwise known as gossip) that turn out to be incorrect. (Maybe the gist of the post still holds but I hope to get more than the “gist” of stuff like this.)
This post even has a bonus – a comparison to Soviet Russia, which surely is second only to Nazi Germany as the place failed arguments go to die.
This is all fine and understandable when it’s just a relatively uninformed guy’s personal blog, but Norman is not uninformed (I thought he was a journalist!) and this is not simply a personal blog. Yet the standards are so low so consistently that it simply can’t be trusted.
That’s rather cruel, isn’t it? (Jama 11)
Ever thought about expressing your opinions politely?
No, I thought not.
Damn it Jim I’m not a gossip I’m a fishmonger.
If it comes to bashing the MET in general and Peter Gelb in particular, we can always count on Slipped Disc. This time I see a real reason to do so again. But it is not about the ticket policy. It is about their production values: they are withdrawing their beautiful old productions, one after another, and replacing them with Eurotrash – ok, sometimes Eurotrash lite. This is the final revival of Otto Schenk’s Meistersinger.
News of this actually went out two weeks ago or so – and, as Margaret reminded us, the NY Times reported it back in September.
I tried to use the online lottery for rush seats last Saturday morning for the final performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, but the software didn’t seem to be working properly. So we got ground floor standing room and eventually moved into empty seats.
My experience had always been that the sound in ground floor standing room (which is, after all, under four tiers) was pretty poor, but on Saturday it seemed very good indeed. Go figure.
I too lamented the end of the line when the lottery was announced. However, the better-half who works 9-5 and longer most days and doesn’t have the freelance flexibility I do, pointed out that it was probably a fairer system. And certainly there were a few people (probably a small minority) who used the old system for their own profit. The lottery, however was a disaster. People could enter for the hell of it and then not actually buy the tickets. The website got quirky and winners couldn’t buy tickets. Some people just never won. The new system seems FABULOUS. And probably will remain so as long as it doesn’t get too popular. It’s easy. You don’t have to wait. The new rule that you can only buy rush once a week should also keep this from becoming too much of club and help cut down on spammers. I think they actually got this one right. Time to celebrate!
I loathe the new “day of” on-line lottery. With the old lottery I knew a few days in advance that I had tickets. I live an hour outside the city so the “day of” lottery is far more difficult for me to participate in logistically – IF I was ever able to get tickets through it. The only time I have been able to get Saturday tickets there was clearly a problem with the site – I gave up because it was clearly not working – went back an hour later and tried just in case – and got tickets. Every other time (I try every week) all the tickets have sold out in approximately (literally) six seconds. I never win tickets but I do have a heart attack! Obviously the only people getting tickets are the ones with the fastest internet connections. Everyone else is out of luck. I grew up going to the opera and I wanted my kids to appreciate it. But there is very little chance for a “non-one percenter” with this system –
Metropolitan-Opera elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company.http://www.allticketonline.com/Metropolitan-Opera