NYCO Does Well, but Center Gets Grant of Up to $750,000 for Shortfall

Officials of the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday announced a grant of up to $750,000 from the Harry and Grace Steele Foundation of Newport Beach to subsidize the recent engagement of the New York City Opera.

The foundation had intended to fill a projected gap between ticket sales and the costs of mounting the NYCO productions of “Rigoletto,” “Die Zauberflote” and “The Merry Widow,” according to Center President Thomas R. Kendrick. Box office revenues “can never meet the costs of presenting grand opera, even when performances sell out,” Kendrick explained.

Because of the “extraordinary” paid attendance of more than 90%, however, the actual shortfall should be much less than the $750,000 provided by the grant, Kendrick said in an interview.

Kendrick said his best estimate of the gap is “more than $500,000.” The Center will submit bills directly to the Steele Foundation, and the foundation will keep the difference, he said.

More than 20,000 Southland residents attended the seven performances of the operas, which received mixed reviews.

The Steele Foundation subsidized the first West Coast performance of the New York City Opera in 1987 at the Center’s inaugural. The foundation also donated $1 million to the Center’s construction campaign and $2 million more in 1984 in the form of a challenge grant that generated more than $7.5 million in cash, pledge commitments and deferred gifts to the Center.