THE ARTS

Moving Forward: Despite critics who say it could lead to bankruptcy, London’s famed Covent Garden Royal Opera House is pressing forward with plans to shut down for two years in 1997 for an ambitious but essential modernization scheme. To carry out the work on the 1858 building, whose stage is still powered by a World War I submarine engine, the opera and ballet house must find $230 million in financing--a tall order for a state-subsidized arts company that, despite charging the highest ticket prices in the world, is already running a $5.5-million deficit. Britain’s Conservative government, which last year kicked in some $29 million to Covent Garden, has refused to contribute extra funds for modernization. The opera house is therefore hoping to raise $70 million through a public appeal and an as-yet-undisclosed sum from Britain’s new national lottery for the arts and sports. But the bulk of funding is dependent on profits from a planned commercial development of shops and offices on part of the Covent Garden site, a prospect that critics say is dangerous given the recession and plummeting property prices.