L.B. Opera Cancels Last Production of Season

Citing the national economic downturn in general and fallen corporate contributions in particular, Long Beach Opera on Tuesday canceled the third and final production of the company’s 1990-91 season, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie,” scheduled for four performances beginning May 12 in Center Theater at the Long Beach Convention Center.

General Director Michael Milenski also acknowledged that a desire not to increase the company’s present deficit of $215,000 motivated the cancellation.

The Long Beach company, 12 years old this spring, has a history of fiscal struggle, cancellations and reschedulings.

“This is a very positive move,” Milenski insisted, explaining the cancellation. “Our board of directors felt--and I go along with them--that it makes no sense to continue to maintain, or enlarge, the deficit.”

From a high of $248,000 right after the company’s expensive “Ariadne auf Naxos”--which employed double casts of speaking actors and operatic singers--in 1987, Milenski said, the deficit has been reduced to its present level.

“It takes an enormous amount of energy, time and money to maintain a deficit. We were not willing to continue on that path.”

The cancellation of the Rameau opera, Milenski told The Times, will save the association about $160,000 in production costs--bringing the current LBO budget down to $670,000 for this season.

Milenski said he has no present plans to mount Rameau’s five-act operatic tragedy in the near future: “Because of the work’s complex needs, it will be several seasons before we can again align the necessary forces.”

Season subscribers for 1990-91 will be offered tickets to the opening production of the next season, in November, Milenski said, in lieu of refunds for the Rameau work. Refunds, however, will be available.

The company’s next opera is an English-language production of Debussy’s “Pelleas et Melisande,” opening in Center Theater next Wednesday. Milenski also announced three operas for Long Beach in 1991-92: Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera,” Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” and Offenbach’s “Bluebeard.”