I'm generally not a big fan of the number-crunching side of the arts: How much did this production cost? How much did it make? Who gets what off the first 10% of ticket sales? Certainly these stats are a reality of any production, but audiences' preoccupation with dollar signs gets a little silly after a while... as if these numbers have anything to do with the resultant artistry.
Nevertheless, I found this info on US government grants awarded to opera productions to be interesting if only because you can see the relative amounts awarded to various productions. John Adams' A Flowering Tree gathered a just bit less that Shore's The Fly. But both were dwarfed by a Lyric Opera production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Of course, nothing here indicates what the total budgets were, just the grants themselves. At the very least, it's a wonderful reminder that government programs still help support the fine arts.
Speaking of The Fly, we should have a review up shortly... hopefully in the next day or two.
