The Met may not be able to balance its books, but it sure knows how to tart up the numbers.
Pretty impressive, huh? One New York paper described it as a "high note". But look at those figures a little more closely.
The Met's total box office income last year was $93m. The $2,653,676 raised on the first day of sales is a mere 3% of this.
And house capacity is a smidgen under 4,000, so the 24,087 seats sold are the equivalent of just six full shows, out of a total 200-ish performances.
Of course the Met has already shifted a lot of tickets via subscription packages, which is why two of its new productions, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, are nearly sold out. But take a look at any other production and you'll see acres of empty seating. You can still buy seats - good ones - in almost any price category to see Anna Netrebko in Don Pasquale or Elina Garanca in Carmen. Unthinkable in any European house.
Peter Gelb must be crossing his fingers for record-breaking walk-ups to match.

