Floods cost Houston Grand Opera $15 million
mainHowever, adds an end-of-season company report:
Lower sales income was significantly offset by a Harvey recovery fundraising campaign that has raised more than $9.5 million to date. HGO presented its entire 63rd season in the HGO Resilience Theater, a temporary venue the company built in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center after its home in the Wortham Theater Center was seriously damaged by flooding. The company will return to the Wortham in the fall with a gala benefit concert featuring Plácido Domingo and Ana María Martínez on September 26.
Sort of reminds me of that alleged joke from the Titanic: “I know I ordered ice, but this is ridiculous”.
I would hate to be in the Intendant’s shoes.
And how do you move forward?
After you clean up, it could happen over again unless they move to higher ground.
The Wortham Center, where HGO performs, lies directly on the bank of Buffalo Bayou, which has been a known, and huge, flood hazard for decades. Why they built it there is a mystery. It will absolutely happen again.
“row, row, row you boat, gently towards the opera house” . . . doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?