Ballet and opera are still thriving, but Timothée Chalamet wasn't entirely wrong

The recent conflict has brought brutal attacks from both sides – but, with the Oscars ceremony under our belts, perhaps we can now declare peace in our time: opera and ballet have finally defeated Timothée Chalamet.

Variations on this comedic missive have run amok in writers’ rooms, with US TV host Jon Stewart referencing the fight on The Daily Show and Oscars host Conan O’Brien using his opening speech to joke: “Security is extremely tight tonight – I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.”

Opera and ballet vs Chalamet began after the latter made a comment during a filmed Q&A with Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas. The actors were talking about keeping cinema current, when Chalamet opined: “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this any more.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”

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It is a truth universally known that saying “all respect” invariably makes the intended recipient feel immediately disrespected – and soon screens erupted with gorgeous stage production shots and the declaration ‘we care’. Inspired marketing campaigns offered a ‘Chalamet discount’ and English National Opera (ENO) posted “We’d love to change your mind – free tickets on us to help you fall back in love with opera anytime xoxo.”

I’m excited to see Chalamet and his girlfriend Kylie Jenner at Angel’s Bone, the UK premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Du Yun, which will be staged at Manchester’s Aviva Studios (12-16 May; then at the London Coliseum 16-31 October). 

Read more:

• Top 5 books about ballet, chosen by ballerina-cum-author Juhea Kim 
• English National Opera is in a fight for its life
• How the Northern Ballet’s empty orchestra pit perfectly sums up UK’s arts crisis 

Chalamet’s statement was sweeping, but it conveys uncomfortable realities. In its response, the Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) claimed that thousands of people fill Covent Garden; they do, but they are filling it on fewer occasions than they used to.

ENO’s in-progress straddling of Manchester and London – as determined by Arts Council England in order for the organisation to qualify for funding – is proving so complex that its current season is a shadow of its pre-pandemic self, with the orchestra’s appearances at Grange Park Opera padding out its online listings.

And while arguments about ticket cost continue – a top-price seat at RBO is currently around £270 – they don’t fully stick. Slip seats in the gods are as little as £13 – comparable to the cinema in many cases. At 30, Chalamet just misses out on Glyndebourne’s under-30s Scheme (£30 tickets to select performances), but he could join the organisation’s under-40s membership, with 50% off tickets. We’re yet to see whether such campaigns will keep the art form alive in the long term. 

Far from berating Chalamet, British actor Rebecca Humphries (Carrie Johnson in Partygate; Carol Thatcher in The Crown) wrote in The Guardian that “opera and ballet are going the way of stamp collecting, church-going and blacksmithing, and appreciation alone will not rescue them”. 

Still, the calls for art forms to stand together have been heart-warming. Steven Spielberg used the SXSW keynote to make his opinion clear: “At the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings that we walk into the daylight with, or into the nighttime with. And there’s nothing like that. It happens in movies, and in concerts – and it happens in ballet and opera, by the way.” 

There was no gold statuette for Chalamet’s film Marty Supreme. Contrary to the scripted jokes, his controversial comments were made after the voting had taken place, so could not have influenced the decision. It’s time to give the guy a break – perhaps a role in a table-tennis inspired ballet.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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