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COPYRIGHT 2005 Metropolitan Opera Guild, Inc.
In Charles Ludlam's hilarious comedy Galas, a fictionalized account of the last days of Maria Callas, the opera diva, isolated in her apartment, is in total despair. Her love life is a disaster. Her career's finished. Her once loyal friends shun her. "And," she growls, capping her list of woes, "there's nothing on television!"
Imagine what she'd think of TV today. Commercial television has surpassed the "vast wasteland" of critics' worst fears. Even on PBS, there's been a similar decline. The only Met opera scheduled for the entire year of 2005 is this month's broadcast of Die Meistersinger, which the company taped in 2001. Salome (2004), Wozzeck (2001) and Ariadne auf Naxos (2003) are other historic Met productions that remain on the shelf, waiting for funding and a time slot. In the past, the Met telecast four or five operas a year. New York City...
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