Met's Road Show

High among his other qualifications for the job of general manager of the Met, Rudolf Bing is a businessman. When his bubbly new production of Fledermaus became a box-office hit last winter (TIME, Jan. 15), he made up his mind to take a businessman's risk. The scheme: to set up the first "auxiliary" opera troupe in Met history, and send it across the U.S. and Canada to sing nothing but Fledermaus. The troupe would bring live Met music to cities that never hear it and, Bing hoped, make a tidy profit. Cut the pauper-poor Met could not even pay the freight for such a tour.

Bing took his idea to Frank Stanton, president of CBS (owner of Columbia Records). In a matter of minutes, he had a $70,000 loan. "Of course," says Bing, "it wasn't just because of my pretty blue eyes." The tour will be a high-class plug for Columbia's new Fledermaus album.

Last week the show hit the road in Philadelphia, with a cast that includes onetime New York City Opera Stars Brenda Lewis (as Rosalinda) and Virginia MacWatters (Adele). On opening night, a fuse blew out in the orchestra pit and delayed the show for 15 minutes. But near-capacity audiences had a rollicking good time all week. Said one surprised young lady: "I like it even better than South Pacific." Their 30-week tour will take the Met auxiliaries into more than 30 cities for some 200 performances. Weekly cost of the show: $30,000. Estimated profit? Says Bing: "I should say from zero to a quarter of a million dollars. I would be very disappointed if it makes zero and very surprised if it makes a quarter of a million."

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