Ashes at the opera

A premature and macabre end to a Rossini double-bill on Oct. 29 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera: A matinee performance of “William Tell” was called off before the fourth act and “The Italian Girl in Algiers,” which was to follow in the evening, was canceled, after a patron dumped a white, dusty substance, believed to be the ashes of a cremated friend, in the orchestra pit.

The New York Times’ Michael Cooper and Christopher Mele report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/nyregion/metropolitan-opera-cancels-performance-white-substance.html