Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 57

creative forms, New York opera as a sub-genre served to spark an extremely Americana
compositional approach to traditional opera. Through shows like Oklahoma, West Side
Story, and Sweeney Todd, New York opera has stylistically contributed to the lyric
repertoire of opera houses across the world. Perhaps coincidentally, New York opera
also served as a conceptual and musicological catalyst to the compositional
development of modern musical theatre and portray triumph on a different forefront of
art. Without NYCO and the Met, the world may have never heard of Beverly Sills or
James Levine. Perhaps the Three Tenors may have never come to fruition—disallowing
the commingling of popular and classical music. However, both institutions served to
bring such instances to the world—yet through very different approaches. The Met
began as a way for the socially elite to co-mingle, with opera very much at the bottom of
the list of priorities. Unfortunately, this plagued the house and the company for many
years and created a long and negative association of opera with the elite—an
association the modern Met still struggles to fight off. Nearly antithetically and almost 50
years later, NYCO’s adherence to domestic, young performers and new work served to
bring a very different and valid contribution to the New York operatic landscape
Though the two institutions began under very different circumstances and
ideologies, the two gradually converged as time went on. The Met found that opera
produced for all audiences was a better bet than its largely elitist past—beginning to
make tickets more affordable and providing broadcasts and radio to reach and inspire
larger audiences. This represents the ever evolving nature of artistic performance and
opera in this particular case. NYCO, as mentioned, suffered severe financial loss and
eventual bankruptcy, likely due to their altruistic ideology regarding affordability for
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