At today’s matinee, New York City Ballet was doing everything it could to put on a great show.
But ugh, that empty Fourth Ring. It really looks dismal de-populated. Since they’re no longer selling seats up there up except for The Nutcracker, why don’t they cut their losses while improving the entire performance ambiance by–
Finding a way to give the tickets away to young people, students or people of any age whose income would prohibit them from even thinking about attending a live ballet performance. How many people would therefore get to see ballet who would never go otherwise? And a full house is always a boon to performers. Ballet needs to rebuild its audience, and if it has to resort to a loss-leader, so be it–although “loss-leader” isn’t exactly accurate since they’re already not generating revenue up there. How nice to really reach out to the city that way. And what great PR for the company!