Revival Is on the Table for Bankrupt New York City Opera

The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, where New York City Opera performed “Anna Nicole” until Oct. 2.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Could the curtain rise again at the New York City Opera?

The shuttered institution, which closed its doors last fall after years of financial woes, could be revived in some fashion, according to two lawyers working on the opera’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

“There is a possibility that the opera could come back in some incarnation,” Klestadt & Winters partner Sean Southard, an attorney for the opera’s unsecured creditors, told Bankruptcy Beat on Tuesday.

Nicole Stefanelli, an attorney at Lowenstein Sandler who represents the opera, added: “At this point, it’s not really clear what will end up happening, but there was at least one proposal to revive New York City Opera.”

Ms. Stefanelli wouldn’t offer any hints as to who may be interested in the opera, saying the names are “strictly confidential,” but noted that most everyone considering making a deal “are interested in seeing some sort of revival.”

Proposals to reincarnate City Opera include submissions by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Michael Capasso, general director of the Dicapo Opera Theatre, according to BAM and a person familiar with the discussions. BAM—which coproduced City Opera’s final production, “Anna Nicole”— is hoping to use City Opera’s endowment to present more opera.

But what would a buyer actually be getting? While the opera has no physical assets after auctioning off its sets, props and costumes, Ms. Stefanelli says “interested parties want the name and goodwill” associated with New York City Opera.

Since entering bankruptcy last fall, City Opera has shut down substantially all of its operations aside from a thrift shop the organization ran, according to court filings.

This week, the opera’s attorneys asked a bankruptcy court for more time to file a creditor-payment plan, citing the exploration of a potential deal.

The new timeline, if approved, would give the opera until the end of September to come up with a plan. Ms. Stefanelli says that they are “really pushing to move things along” so they can “have something done” by the new proposed deadline.

New York City Opera—dubbed “the people’s opera” by former New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia—closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy in October after 70 years in operation. Catering more to the masses than its well-established neighbor, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the smaller opera launched the careers of singers including Beverly Sills and Plácido Domingo.

At the time of its bankruptcy filing, New York City Opera owed money to the New York City Ballet, the organization that operates a theater it was once housed in, ticket holders, musicians, former employees and others.

Its closure came after a failed emergency fundraising campaign to bring in $7 million to keep the company afloat.

-Jennifer Maloney contributed to this post.

Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @sara_randazzo.

This post was updated at 1:45 p.m. ET to add the identities of those who have submitted proposals to revive City Opera.

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