Perhaps There's More to This Than Meets the Eye

Readers of the NY Times and Parterre Box might recall that Peter Stein withdrew in July from directing the new Met Boris Godunov. At the time, the Met said it was "for personal reasons" and declined to elaborate.

Dan Wakin has the rest of the story today. It seems that dealing with the U.S. visa bureaucracy was hard, and the Met didn't do enough to reassure Stein that he was wanted and that nothing like the boorish treatment he got from an official would happen again. Note: the Met flew an employee to Europe to help Stein get a visa.