(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog)
Despite earlier denials in the press, former Miller Theatre
impresario George Steel has just this afternoon accepted the position
of former Dallas Opera general director. In a move that in the
end surprised no one, Steel is on his way back to New York City, where
he is to become general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera—a company badly in need of a good break.
Steel, long a Manhattan hero for his bold initiatives at Miller, inherits massive difficulties, not the least of which is a budget likely to be rather smaller than in years past. But if he is able to mount a respectable first season, and thereby rescue the much-loved City Opera from serious crisis, Steel will be a bigger hero than ever before. From what we know of him, those are the kinds of odds he’s always favored.
We’ll have more details from Steel imminently. Meanwhile, we wish we were the gambling type ourselves: Earlier this week on the queer opera zine Parterre Box—which with customary bitchery had been dropping sneaky Two Face references all week—we quietly cast our vote for Steel as the new general manager. Imagine if there had been real money at stake.
In fact, we’re willing to make one more bet: A Quiet Place, the much-maligned late opera by Leonard Bernstein (one of Steel’s mentors), will finally be seeing a New York stage. We’d bank on it.
Meanwhile, you can see Steel’s conveniently prerecorded statement on the City Opera blog. Already, Mark Morris has cast his vote of approval in the comments there: “THANK GODDESS! AN EARTHLING AT THE HELM. GOOD LUCK!”
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