Starving actor?

[caeron]

 

That seems a little much to share to me, but his lack of response does imply at the very least he's looking only for easy money.

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, caeron said:

 

That seems a little much to share to me, but his lack of response does imply at the very least he's looking only for easy money.

Yes, that and the fact that he's not as hard-up for cash as he claims. I'm not hard-up for cash, but I was happy to meet the LA Opera's Major Gifts Officer when he offered to talk to me and my husband about the LAO over coffee--and all we got was a cup of coffee. I was surprised to learn that corporate donations make up only 10% of its budget, and that they rely more heavily on private donors such as myself. We did tell him, though, that we were disappointed that they are redoing both The Marriage of Figaro and Turandot, after having done them just a few years earlier. Apparently I was not alone in expressing this concern. We did tell him we would be renewing our subscriptions and our donations again this year, but would not do so if they kept on doing repeats. Well, I must admit he's quite handsome--though we're both quite happily married (in his case, to a woman, of all people) and neither hitting on each other. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timstephensonpiano/

[caeron]

 

Our opera did a lot of repeats too, it was one of the reasons we stopped going.

[Suckrates]

12 minutes ago, caeron said:

 

Our opera did a lot of repeats too, it was one of the reasons we stopped going.

That's good, because haven't you heard ?   Timothy Chalamet has proclaimed the opera and ballet are DEAD, and noone cares about them anymore !   

You got out just in time..... 😁

[Suckrates]

On 3/29/2026 at 7:34 PM, unicorn said:

It's been over 24 hours since I offered both (1) the $100 coffee meeting, and (2) magician/entertainer gig for June pool party. No response so far, which makes me very suspicious that his story in asking for donations is a scam... 😉

Well maybe then, he's not really STARVING, but cant answer because he's busy gorging himself at some "all you can eat" buffet"? 

With prices of everything Rising all around the world, maybe you need to "up the offer", perhaps to $1000.  That might make him "bite" ?   And you will have another Great story to tell !  👍 

[Keithambrose]

1 hour ago, caeron said:

 

Our opera did a lot of repeats too, it was one of the reasons we stopped going.

Same for Covent  Garden! Saving money.  La Traviata is seen as a banker, and sometimes  they have 3 different  casts, with what  seems like endless performances

[unicorn]

For an update, I got an e-mail from him on Wednesday:

"Thank you so so much for the kind words and opportunity to support my cause. It's been terribly busy as far as work goes, so excuse my delay. I don't know when I would be able to find the time to meet up because I'm quite delayed with two projects i've found myself editing for and the deadlines are in two days, so I cannot say if we would be able to meet before then, but I wanted to at least stay appreciative of your time and your response. I can't thank you enough for taking your time to reach out to me and even offer support to me. That's massive, kind and generous to say the least. I hope you'll accept my sincerest appreciation for even the thought to do this for me. It's monumental. Take care.

-Skyler"

So maybe I'll hear from him later today or tomorrow, since the deadline is today. Here was my response:

"Skyler,
       There's no rush. It's up to you. I will be at a medical conference in Irvine (I'm a doctor) from next Thursday to next Saturday, and then again out of town from the 18th to 24th, but the rest of the month is pretty free. It's a quick drive for me to get to Burbank--we often go to the AMC theaters there. We could meet at the Starbucks at Palm and San Fernando, or any other coffee shop of your choosing. Also, I'd be interested in hiring you as a magician for entertainment at a pool party I'm starting to plan for Saturday June 13th. The parties are lots of fun, with most of the guests in their 30s. Hunter Gallagher and Nick Mascardo are frequent guests at my pool parties, and we have shirtless bartenders and an open bar."

[PeterRS]

On 4/1/2026 at 12:21 AM, caeron said:

 

Our opera did a lot of repeats too, it was one of the reasons we stopped going.

The problem for opera companies is that new productions take vast amounts of planning time - at least two years - and then equally vast amounts of cash to build newly designed scenery, create new costumes, props, lighting and other technical issues - and that is all before you add in a 3-4 week rehearsal period for everyone involved. including a very expensive orchestra. Most revivals can virtually be thrown on in a fraction of the time thereby saving a lot of money. That's not much help to those who have already seen productions, though.

Recent decades have seen the collapse of the New York City Opera - a result of its idiotic Board Chair abandoning collegiality and hiring a controversial European Artistic Director who had demanded an annual budget of US$60 million. City Opera had never operated on more than $30 million. It crashed. Now the New York Met is in very serious trouble - and again primarily because of its Board. When its previous very savvy General Manager retired in 2006, it appointed a man who had never run any performing company, let alone such a huge one as the Met Opera, and had no experience of opera apart from selling programmes as student. But he was a pal of someone or other.  He said he aimed to make opera more popular. All he has done is reduce audiences (fair point - covid did not help), reduce the number and amount of donations and drawn down roughly $100 million from the Endowment after promising the Unions he'd increase it by £200 million!

Arts management professionals worldwide have called him a charlatan and clearly stated he should have been dismissed years ago, but he seems to have some hold over the Board who keep extending his contract. When he presented a Wagner RIng cycle by Cirque du Soleil's splendid director Robert Lepage early in his tenure, one of the horrendous problems that dogged this production was that no one, least of all Gelb, had realised that the scenery weighed 45 tons, cost US$16 million and was way too heavy for the stage structure. This then had to have an extra $1 million spent on it to support its weight. Idiocy!

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, unicorn said:

So with his "immense debt", he's been "terribly busy as far as work goes." 

Doesn't that more or less say it all?

[unicorn]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Doesn't that more or less say it all?

That was my suspicion from the beginning. We'll see soon enough.

[caeron]

 

The sad thing about the repeats was that we would have enjoyed it near as much as if they'd stripped down sets and costumes and the rest to the minimum, and given us something new. I get all the other financial constraints, but as you say, there is only so much money around. You do the best with what you have, not do the best and hope you have.

[PeterRS]

5 hours ago, caeron said:

 

The sad thing about the repeats was that we would have enjoyed it near as much as if they'd stripped down sets and costumes and the rest to the minimum, and given us something new. I get all the other financial constraints, but as you say, there is only so much money around. You do the best with what you have, not do the best and hope you have.

Seiji Ozawa ued to do this sort of stripping down once each year with his New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo. With the cast in costume, simple scenery, props and lighting in front of the orchestra, these proved very popular. He also did some of these with the Boston Symphony.

[Keithambrose]

11 hours ago, PeterRS said:

The problem for opera companies is that new productions take vast amounts of planning time - at least two years - and then equally vast amounts of cash to build newly designed scenery, create new costumes, props, lighting and other technical issues - and that is all before you add in a 3-4 week rehearsal period for everyone involved. including a very expensive orchestra. Most revivals can virtually be thrown on in a fraction of the time thereby saving a lot of money. That's not much help to those who have already seen productions, though.

Recent decades have seen the collapse of the New York City Opera - a result of its idiotic Board Chair abandoning collegiality and hiring a controversial European Artistic Director who had demanded an annual budget of US$60 million. City Opera had never operated on more than $30 million. It crashed. Now the New York Met is in very serious trouble - and again primarily because of its Board. When its previous very savvy General Manager retired in 2006, it appointed a man who had never run any performing company, let alone such a huge one as the Met Opera, and had no experience of opera apart from selling programmes as student. But he was a pal of someone or other.  He said he aimed to make opera more popular. All he has done is reduce audiences (fair point - covid did not help), reduce the number and amount of donations and drawn down roughly $100 million from the Endowment after promising the Unions he'd increase it by £200 million!

Arts management professionals worldwide have called him a charlatan and clearly stated he should have been dismissed years ago, but he seems to have some hold over the Board who keep extending his contract. When he presented a Wagner RIng cycle by Cirque du Soleil's splendid director Robert Lepage early in his tenure, one of the horrendous problems that dogged this production was that no one, least of all Gelb, had realised that the scenery weighed 45 tons, cost US$16 million and was way too heavy for the stage structure. This then had to have an extra $1 million spent on it to support its weight. Idiocy!

"This then had to have an extra $1 million spent on it to support its weight. Idiocy!"

 

A bit like the new Lufthansa First Class seat, which after it had been announced with a fanfare, turned out to be too heavy to be installed!