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Metropolitan Opera House

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75-784: The Metropolitan Opera House may refer to: In the United States [ edit ] New York City [ edit ] Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street) ("the old Met") Other US opera houses [ edit ] Metropolitan Opera House (Grand Forks, North Dakota) Metropolitan Opera House (Iowa Falls, Iowa) Metropolitan Opera House (Minneapolis) Metropolitan Opera House (Philadelphia) Metropolitan Opera House (Saint Paul, Minnesota) In other countries [ edit ] Metropolitan Opera House (Taichung, Taiwan) , scheduled for full opening in 2016 Topics referred to by

150-514: A daily rate of 133 in 1931). The 1929 crash brought the Roaring Twenties to a halt. As tentatively expressed by economic historian Charles P. Kindleberger , in 1929, there was no lender of last resort effectively present, which, if it had existed and been properly exercised, would have been key in shortening the business slowdown that normally follows financial crises. The crash instigated widespread and long-lasting consequences for

225-469: A fourth of the building's interior area; massive storage spaces below the stage allow for production storage within the opera house, and large workshops for scenery construction, costumes, wigs and electric equipment, as well as kitchens, offices, an employee canteen and dressing room spaces for the principals, chorus, supernumeraries, ballet and children's chorus surround the stage complex on multiple floors. Two large rehearsal halls (situated three floors below

300-634: A mass of 250 million bushels of wheat to be "carried over" when 1929 opened. By May there was also a winter wheat crop of 560 million bushels ready for harvest in the Mississippi Valley. The oversupply caused such a drop in wheat prices that the net incomes of farmers from wheat were threatened with extinction. Stock markets are always sensitive to the future state of commodity markets, and the slump in Wall Street that had been predicted for May by Sir George Paish arrived on time. In June 1929,

375-486: A more traditional design for its home, and the conflicting wishes of the architects of the other Lincoln Center venues), construction of Harrison's forty-third design of the Metropolitan Opera House began in the winter of 1963, the last of the three major Lincoln Center venues to be completed. Construction delays due to the finishing of the neighboring New York State Theatre (in time with the opening of

450-490: A practice of suspending trading when prices fell rapidly to limit panic selling . Scholars differ over crash's effect on the Great Depression, with some claiming that the price fluctuations were insufficient on their own to trigger a major collapse of the financial system, with others arguing that the crash, combined with the other economic problems in the U.S. at the end of the 1920s, should be jointly interpreted as

525-508: A serious setback to industry when industrial production is for the most part in a healthy and balanced condition?" They argued that there must be some setback, but there was not yet sufficient evidence to prove that it would be long or would necessarily produce a general industrial depression. However, The Economist also cautioned that some bank failures were also to be expected and some banks may not have had any reserves left for financing commercial and industrial enterprises. It concluded that

600-445: A stage in the business cycles which affect all capitalist economies. The " Roaring Twenties ", the decade following World War I that led to the crash, was a time of wealth and excess. Building on post-war optimism, rural Americans migrated to the cities in vast numbers throughout the decade with hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the ever-growing expansion of America's industrial sector. Scholars believe that declines in

675-546: A strategy used during the Panic of 1907 . This encouraged a brief recovery before Black Tuesday. Further action failed to halt the fall, which continued until July 8, 1932; by then, the stock market had lost some 90% of its pre-crash value. The United States Congress responded to the events by passing the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass–Steagall Act), which separated commercial and investment banking . Stock exchanges introduced

750-563: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) The Metropolitan Opera House (also known as The Met ) is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City . Part of Lincoln Center , the theater was designed by Wallace K. Harrison . It opened in 1966, replacing

825-652: Is one of the most technologically advanced stages in the world. Its vast array of hydraulic elevators, motorized stages and rigging systems have made possible the staging requirements of grand opera in repertory and have made possible complex productions such as Franco Zeffirelli's 1981 production of La bohème , as well as productions of mammoth operas, including Prokofiev 's War and Peace , Verdi's Aida and Wagner 's four-part, 16-hour Der Ring des Nibelungen . The Met stage has also been home to numerous world premieres of operas, including John Corigliano 's The Ghosts of Versailles , Philip Glass's The Voyage and

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900-470: The 1964 World's Fair ), resulted in the excavation site being nicknamed "Lake Bing" after then-Met General Manager Rudolf Bing . Although the house would not officially open for several more months, the first public performance at the new Metropolitan Opera House was a performance of Giacomo Puccini 's La fanciulla del West on April 11, 1966, with Beverly Bower as Minnie, Gaetano Bardini as Dick Johnson, and Cesare Bardelli as Jack Rance. The production

975-556: The Marshall Plan following World War II, and were designed by Dr. Hans Harald Rath of J. & L. Lobmeyr of Vienna. Twelve of the chandeliers in the auditorium are on motorized winches, and raised to the ceiling prior to performances so as not to obstruct sight lines of the audience on the upper levels. In 2008 the lobby chandeliers were dismantled and sent to the J & L Lobmeyr workshop in Vienna to be refurbished prior to

1050-557: The National City Bank , would provide $ 25 million in credit to stop the market's slide. Mitchell's move brought a temporary halt to the financial crisis, and call money declined from 20 to 8 percent. However, the American economy showed ominous signs of trouble. Steel production declined, construction was sluggish, automobile sales went down, and consumers were building up large debts because of easy credit. Despite all

1125-484: The National City Bank of New York . They chose Richard Whitney , vice president of the Exchange, to act on their behalf. With the bankers' financial resources behind him, Whitney placed a bid to purchase 25,000 shares of U.S. Steel at $ 205 per share, a price well above the current market. As traders watched, Whitney then placed similar bids on other " blue chip " stocks. The tactic was similar to one that had ended

1200-490: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ending in mid-November. The crash, which began a rapid erosion of confidence in the U.S. banking system and marked the beginning of the worldwide Great Depression , which lasted until 1939, is considered the most devastating in the country's history. It is most associated with October 24, 1929, known as "Black Thursday", when a record 12.9 million shares were traded on

1275-505: The Panic of 1907 and succeeded in halting the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered, closing down only 6.38 points (2.09%) for the day. On October 28, " Black Monday ", more investors facing margin calls decided to get out of the market, and the slide continued with a record loss in the Dow for the day of 38.33 points, or 12.82%. On October 29, 1929, " Black Tuesday " hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on

1350-528: The Pecora Commission was established by the U.S. Senate to study the causes of the crash. The following year, the U.S. Congress passed the Glass–Steagall Act mandating a separation between commercial banks , which take deposits and extend loans , and investment banks , which underwrite , issue, and distribute stocks , bonds , and other securities . Afterwards, stock markets around

1425-492: The former house were becoming vastly inadequate for growing repertory and advancing stagecraft. As part of the development of the present-day Rockefeller Center site , there was to be a development with a new 4,000-seat opera house at its center. Financial problems and the following stock market crash of 1929 postponed the relocation of the Metropolitan Opera, and the complex became more commercially based. With

1500-477: The ticker tape in brokerage offices around the nation was hours late, and so investors had no idea what most stocks were trading for. Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. The meeting included Thomas W. Lamont , acting head of Morgan Bank ; Albert Wiggin , head of the Chase National Bank ; and Charles E. Mitchell, president of

1575-490: The uptick rule , which allowed short selling only when the last tick in a stock's price was positive, was implemented after the 1929 market crash to prevent short sellers from driving the price of a stock down in a bear raid . The stock market crash of October 1929 led directly to the Great Depression in Europe. When stocks plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange , the world noticed immediately. Although financial leaders in

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1650-735: The Beach was staged independently at the Met in 1976. Concerts by Barbra Streisand , The Who , Paul McCartney and others have been successful as well. Several notable non-operatic performances occurred in 1986. On July 8, a gala fund raiser performance to benefit ABT and Paris Opera Ballet saw the first joint performance in over ten years of ABT artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov and Paris Opera Ballet Director Rudolf Nureyev . On August 9 and 10, comedian Robin Williams recorded performances that were shown on HBO and released on compact disc under

1725-427: The Dow closing at 198.60. The market then recovered for several months, starting on November 14, with the Dow gaining 18.59 points to close at 217.28, and reaching a secondary closing peak ( bear market rally ) of 294.07 on April 17, 1930. The Dow then embarked on another, much longer, steady slide from April 1930 to July 8, 1932, when it closed at 41.22, its lowest level of the 20th century, concluding an 89.2% loss for

1800-516: The Great Depression. True or not, the consequences were dire for almost everybody. Most academic experts agree on one aspect of the crash: It wiped out billions of dollars of wealth in one day, and this immediately depressed consumer buying. The failure set off a worldwide run on US gold deposits (i.e., the dollar) and forced the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates into the slump. Some 4,000 banks and other lenders ultimately failed. Also,

1875-476: The London Stock Exchange. In the days leading up to the crash, the market was severely unstable. Periods of selling and high volumes were interspersed with brief periods of rising prices and recovery. Selling intensified in mid-October. On October 24, " Black Thursday ", the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on

1950-422: The Met's 125th anniversary season. Workers re-wired the pieces and replaced any of the 49,000 crystals that were broken or missing. The lobby also contains sculptures by Aristide Maillol and Wilhelm Lehmbruck as well as portraits of notable performers and members of the Met company. 3,000 square feet of velour covers the walls in the front of house spaces, with gold leaf, bronze, Italian marble and concrete being

2025-479: The Metropolitan Opera House faces Columbus Avenue and Broadway and forms an axis with Philip Johnson 's David Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater) and David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall), designed by Max Abramovitz , with the plaza's fountain at the center. Although west–east roads do not run through Lincoln Center itself, the Metropolitan Opera House is parallel to

2100-542: The Metropolitan Opera House including Danny Kaye's Look-In at the Metropolitan Opera ( CBS , 1975) and Sills and Burnett at the Met (CBS, 1976). In 1999 and 2001, the Opera House was the venue for the MTV Video Music Awards . As of May 2017 , its 50th anniversary, the Metropolitan Opera House had hosted over 11,000 performances and 164 separate operas (67 of them added after the Met moved to

2175-550: The NYSE in a single day (compared to an average of 4 million), and October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday", when some 16.4 million shares were traded. The " Roaring Twenties " of the previous decade had been a time of industrial expansion in the U.S., and much of the profit had been invested in speculation , including in stocks. Many members of the public, disappointed by the low interest rates offered on their bank deposits, committed their relatively small sums to stockbrokers . By 1929,

2250-619: The New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Around $ 14 billion of stock value was lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price. The Dow lost an additional 30.57 points, or 11.73%, for a total drop of 68.90 points, or 23.05% in two days. On October 29, William C. Durant joined with members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy large quantities of stocks to demonstrate to

2325-418: The U.S. economy was showing signs of trouble; the agricultural sector was depressed due to overproduction and falling prices, forcing many farmers into debt, and consumer goods manufacturers also had unsellable output due to low wages and therefore low buying power . Factory owners cut production and fired staff, reducing demand even further. Despite these trends, investors continued to buy shares in areas of

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2400-523: The UK, protests often focused on the so-called means test , which the government had instituted in 1931 to limit the amount of unemployment payments made to individuals and families. For working people, the means test seemed an intrusive and insensitive way to deal with the chronic and relentless deprivation caused by the economic crisis. The strikes were met forcefully, with police breaking up protests, arresting demonstrators, and charging them with crimes related to

2475-604: The US premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys in 2013. When the Metropolitan Opera is on hiatus, the Opera House is home to the annual Spring season of American Ballet Theatre (ABT). It regularly hosts touring opera and ballet companies including the Kirov , Bolshoi , and the La Scala companies. In addition, the Met has presented recitals by Vladimir Horowitz , Renée Fleming , Kathleen Battle , and others. Philip Glass 's Einstein on

2550-659: The United Kingdom, as in the United States, vastly underestimated the extent of the crisis that ensued, it soon became clear that the world's economies were more interconnected than ever. The effects of the disruption to the global system of financing, trade, and production and the subsequent meltdown of the American economy were soon felt throughout Europe. In 1930 and 1931, in particular, unemployed workers went on strike, demonstrated in public, and otherwise took direct action to call public attention to their plight. Within

2625-427: The United States. Historians still debate whether the 1929 crash sparked the Great Depression or if it merely coincided with bursting a loose credit-inspired economic bubble. Only 16% of American households were invested in the stock market within the United States during the period leading up to this depression, suggesting that the crash carried somewhat less weight in causing it. However, the psychological effects of

2700-537: The architectural surfaces in these spaces. A restaurant occupies space on the Grand Tier level, and spaces for patrons, guild members, and the Metropolitan Opera Club exist as well throughout the lobbies. A restaurant known as "Top of the Met", which occupied a balcony overlooking the plaza and lobbies below was a success upon opening, but closed after low attendance in the mid-1970s. The space

2775-483: The block from West 63rd Street to West 64th Street. The rear of the House meets Amsterdam Avenue , and extends to the plaza entrance. The building is clad in white travertine and the east facade is graced with its distinctive series of five concrete arches and large glass and bronze facade, towering 96 feet above the plaza. On the north, south and west sides of the building, hundreds of vertical fins of travertine running

2850-543: The crash reverberated across the nation as businesses became aware of the difficulties in securing capital market investments for new projects and expansions. Business uncertainty naturally affects job security for employees, and as the American worker (the consumer) faced uncertainty with regard to income, naturally the propensity to consume declined. The decline in stock prices caused bankruptcies and severe macroeconomic difficulties, including contraction of credit, business closures, firing of workers, bank failures, decline of

2925-409: The crash, economist Irving Fisher famously proclaimed "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau". The optimism and the financial gains of the great bull market were shaken after a well-publicized September 8 prediction from financial expert Roger Babson that "a crash is coming, and it may be terrific". The initial September decline was thus called the "Babson Break" in

3000-433: The current building), with 251 productions having been created there. James Levine had conducted 2,583 of the Opera House's 11,000 performances; Charles Anthony had sung there 2,296 times; and The Three Tenors had performed there a combined 1,298 times. Additionally, the Met had broadcast 1,931 performances on live radio, 198 on television, and 109 for movie theaters. Situated at the western end of Lincoln Center Plaza,

3075-656: The development moving forward, John D. Rockefeller Jr. replaced the opera house development with the Rockefeller Center complex; this included a 70-story skyscraper, the RCA Building , which opened in 1933. Young Rockefeller Center architect Wallace Harrison would be approached some 20 years later by officers of the New York Philharmonic Society and the Met to develop a new home for both institutions. As chief architect again for

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3150-399: The development of Lincoln Center , Harrison was chosen to design the new opera house, to be built as the centerpiece of the new performing arts complex- a twenty-five acre, eighteen block site on the Upper West Side , chosen by Robert Moses as a major urban renewal and slum clearance project. After a long process of redesigns, revisions and opposing interests (provided by the Met wanting

3225-657: The economic warning signs and the market breaks in March and May 1929, stocks resumed their advance in June, and the gains continued almost unabated until early September 1929 (the Dow Jones average gained more than 20% between June and September). The market had been on a nine-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average increase in value tenfold, peaking at 381.17 on September 3, 1929. Shortly before

3300-505: The economy where output was declining and unemployment was increasing, so the purchase price of stocks greatly exceeded their real value. By September 1929, more experienced shareholders realized that prices could not continue to rise and began to get rid of their holdings, which caused share values to stall and then fall, encouraging more to sell. As investors panicked, the selling became frenzied. After Black Thursday, leading bankers joined forces to purchase stock at prices above market value,

3375-516: The end of September, the market had dropped 10% from the peak (the "Babson Break"). Selling intensified in early and mid-October, with sharp down days punctuated by a few up days. Panic selling of massive proportion started the week of October 21 and intensified and culminated on October 24, October 28, and especially October 29 ("Black Tuesday"). The president of the Chase National Bank, Albert H. Wiggin , said at

3450-484: The eyes." The auditorium is fan-shaped and decorated in gold and burgundy with seating for 3,794 and 245 standing positions on six levels. Over 4,000 squares of gold leaf cover the domed petal-shaped ceiling from which the 21 crystal chandeliers hang. The walls of the auditorium are paneled in kevazingo bubinga , a rosewood noted for its acoustic quality. The auditorium is known to be acoustically significant—small conversation and quiet moments in music can be heard well at

3525-431: The face value of the stocks that they were buying. Over $ 8.5 billion was out on loan, more than the entire amount of currency circulating in the United States at the time. The rising share prices encouraged more people to invest on the hope that share prices would rise further. Speculation thus fueled further rises and created an economic bubble . Because of margin buying , investors stood to lose large sums of money if

3600-411: The first six months of 1929, of 36.6% over 1928, itself a record half-year. Iron and steel led the way with doubled gains. Such figures set up a crescendo of stock-exchange speculation that led hundreds of thousands of Americans to invest heavily in the stock market. Many people were borrowing money to buy more stocks. By August 1929, brokers were routinely lending small investors more than two-thirds of

3675-471: The full height of the structure give the impression that the facade is an uninterrupted mass of travertine when viewed from certain angles. The building totals 14 stories, 5 of which are underground. On display in the lobby, and visible to the outside plaza, are two murals created for the space by Marc Chagall , The Sources of Music and The Triumph of Music . The murals are approximately 30 ft (9.1 m) by 36 ft (11 m). The south wall holds

3750-481: The index in less than three years. Beginning on March 15, 1933, and continuing through the rest of the 1930s, the Dow began to slowly regain the ground it had lost. The largest percentage increases of the Dow Jones occurred during the early and mid-1930s. In late 1937, there was a sharp dip in the stock market, but prices held well above the 1932 lows. The Dow Jones did not return to its peak close of September 3, 1929, for 25 years, until November 23, 1954. In 1932,

3825-496: The largest financial crisis of the 20th century. The panic of October 1929 has come to serve as a symbol of the economic contraction that gripped the world during the next decade. The falls in share prices on October 24 and 29, 1929 were practically instantaneous in all financial markets, except Japan. The Wall Street Crash had a major impact on the U.S. and world economy, and it has been the source of intense academic historical, economic, and political debate from its aftermath until

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3900-443: The main level with the lower level lounges and upper floors. The centerpiece of the lobby is an array of eleven "crystal chandeliers resembling constellations with sparkly moons and satellites spraying out in all directions"; the auditorium contains 21 matching chandeliers, the largest of which measures 18 ft (5.5 m) in diameter. The chandeliers were donated by the government of Austria as repayment for American help during

3975-445: The main stage, each capable of holding a complete stage setting), the upstage one containing a 60 ft (18 m) diameter turntable; 103 motorized battens (linesets) for overhead lifting; and two 100 ft (30 m)-tall fully enveloping cycloramas . The large and highly mechanized stage and support space smoothly facilitates the rotating presentation of up to four different opera productions each week. The auditorium occupies

4050-651: The market turned down or even if it failed to advance quickly enough. The average price to earnings ratio of S&P Composite stocks was 32.6 in September 1929, clearly above historical norms. According to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith , the exuberance also resulted in a large number of people placing their savings and money in leverage investment products like Goldman Sachs 's "Blue Ridge trust" and "Shenandoah Trust", which crashed in 1929 as well, resulting in losses to banks of $ 475 billion in 2010 dollars ($ 663.68 billion in 2023). Good harvests had built up

4125-556: The money supply caused by Federal Reserve decisions had a severely contractionary effect on output. Despite the inherent risk of speculation , it was widely believed that the stock market would continue to rise forever. On March 25, 1929, after the Federal Reserve warned of excessive speculation, a small crash occurred as investors started to sell stocks at a rapid pace, exposing the market's shaky foundation. Two days later, banker Charles E. Mitchell announced that his company,

4200-406: The money supply, and other economically depressing events. The resultant rise of mass unemployment is seen as a result of the crash, although the crash is by no means the sole event that contributed to the depression. The Wall Street Crash is usually seen as having the greatest impact on the events that followed and therefore is widely regarded as signaling the downward economic slide that initiated

4275-574: The original 1883 Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th Street. With a seating capacity of approximately 3,850, the house is the largest repertory opera house in the world. Home to the Metropolitan Opera Company, the facility also hosts the American Ballet Theatre in the summer months. Planning for a new home for the Metropolitan Opera began as early as the mid-1920s, when the backstage facilities of

4350-719: The position was saved by a severe drought in the Dakotas and the Canadian West, as well as unfavorable seed times in Argentina and eastern Australia. The oversupply was now wanted to fill the gaps in the 1929 world wheat production. From 97¢ per bushel in May, the price of wheat rose to $ 1.49 in July. When it was seen that figure would make American farmers get more for their crop that year than in 1928, stocks went up again. In August,

4425-537: The present day. Some people believed that abuses by utility holding companies contributed to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Many people blamed the crash on commercial banks that were too eager to put deposits at risk on the stock market. In 1930, 1,352 banks held more than $ 853 million in deposits; in 1931, one year later, 2,294 banks failed with nearly $ 1.7 billion in deposits. Many businesses failed (28,285 failures and

4500-599: The press. That was the start of the Great Crash, but until the severe phase of the crash in October, many investors regarded the September "Babson Break" as a "healthy correction" and buying opportunity. On September 20, 1929, top British investor Clarence Hatry and many of his associates were jailed for fraud and forgery, leading to the suspension of his companies. This may have weakened the confidence of Americans in their own companies, although it had minimal impact on

4575-453: The price had fallen to $ 1.31 per bushel. Other important economic barometers were also slowing or even falling by mid-1929, including car sales, house sales, and steel production. The falling commodity and industrial production may have dented even American self-confidence, and the stock market peaked on September 3 at 381.17 just after Labor Day, and it started to falter after Roger Babson issued his prescient "market crash" forecast. By

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4650-407: The public their confidence in the market, but their efforts failed to stop the large decline in prices. The massive volume of stocks traded that day made the ticker continue to run until about 7:45 p.m. After a one-day recovery on October 30, when the Dow regained 28.40 points, or 12.34%, to close at 258.47, the market continued to fall, arriving at an interim bottom on November 13, 1929, with

4725-445: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Metropolitan Opera House . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metropolitan_Opera_House&oldid=1115714065 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

4800-588: The stage) have nearly the dimensions of the Main Stage, allowing for blocking rehearsals and space for full orchestra set ups. Citations Works cited Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash or Crash of '29 , was a major stock market crash in the United States in late 1929, beginning in late October with a sharp decline in prices on

4875-401: The time: We are reaping the natural fruit of the orgy of speculation in which millions of people have indulged. It was inevitable, because of the tremendous increase in the number of stockholders in recent years, that the number of sellers would be greater than ever when the boom ended and selling took the place of buying. Together, the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression formed

4950-679: The title Robin Williams Live at the Met . On October 19, Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic were scheduled during their North American tour for a matinee concert at the Opera House, but Karajan had fallen ill and was replaced by James Levine . The opera house has been featured in a number of movies and television programs, including the climax of Norman Jewison's 1987 film Moonstruck . In addition to regular Metropolitan Opera radio and television broadcasts, several other television programs have been produced at

5025-476: The top of the Family Circle some 146 feet (45 m) away from the stage. As a result, the Opera House is the only Lincoln Center auditorium that has not been rebuilt because of acoustic problems. The square gold proscenium is 54 ft (16 m) wide and 54 ft (16 m) high. The main curtain of custom-woven gold damask , a gift of the Metropolitan Opera Club , is the largest tab curtain in

5100-474: The violation of public order. There is a debate among economists and historians as to what role the crash played in subsequent economic, social, and political events. The Economist argued in a 1998 article that the Depression did not start with the stock market crash, nor was it clear at the time of the crash that a depression was starting. They asked, "Can a very serious Stock Exchange collapse produce

5175-472: The wheat price fell when France and Italy were bragging about a magnificent harvest, and the situation in Australia improved. That sent a shiver through Wall Street and stock prices quickly dropped, but word of cheap stocks brought a fresh rush of "stags" (amateur speculators) and investors. Congress voted for a $ 100 million relief package for the farmers on the hope of stabilizing wheat prices, but by October,

5250-414: The work entitled The Triumph of Music while the north wall contains The Sources of Music . In 2009, the Met's board of directors decided to use the paintings as collateral for a long-term loan which previously relied on cash for backing. Some sources estimate the value of the paintings at $ 20 million. The multi-story lobby is dominated by a concrete and terrazzo cantilevered stairway that connects

5325-518: The world instituted measures to suspend trading in the event of rapid declines, claiming that the measures would prevent such panic sales. However, the one-day crash of Black Monday , October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%, as well as Black Monday of March 16, 2020 (−12.9%), were worse in percentage terms than any single day of the 1929 crash (although the combined 25% decline of October 28–29, 1929,

5400-626: The world. Above the proscenium is an untitled bronze sculpture by Mary Callery . The orchestra pit is very large and open to the auditorium, with the capacity for up to 110 musicians. The stage complex is one of the largest and most complex of its kind in the world, extending 80 ft (24 m) deep from the curtain line to the rear wall. The overall dimensions of the stage with wing space are 90 ft (27 m) deep and 103 ft (31 m) wide. The stage contains 7 hydraulic elevators that are 60 ft (18 m) wide, with double decks; three slipstages (large spaces on either side of and behind

5475-609: Was attended by 3,000 high school students, and began with the playing of the National Anthem and a series of sound tests that included a loud chord from the orchestra and a blast from a shotgun. The new building officially opened on September 16, 1966, with the world premiere of Samuel Barber 's Antony and Cleopatra , directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli and choreographed by Alvin Ailey starring Leontyne Price as Cleopatra with Thomas Schippers conducting. The Met

5550-422: Was designed by Harrison himself and featured murals by French impressionist Raoul Dufy . Other public spaces in the Opera House were decorated by such interior designers of the time as Angelo Donghia , William Baldwin , and L. Garth Huxtable, husband of then- New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable , who upon the opening of the building would famously write, "There is a strong temptation to close

5625-463: Was larger than that of October 19, 1987, and remains the worst two-day decline as of October 7, 2024 ). The crash followed a speculative boom that had taken hold in the late 1920s. During the latter half of the 1920s, steel production, building construction, retail turnover, automobiles registered, and even railway receipts advanced from record to record. The combined net profits of 536 manufacturing and trading companies showed an increase, in

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