Bowery's Amato Opera to Close

After 60 years on the Bowery, the fat lady has sung for the Amato Opera; it will close at the end of May. The Times reports that Anthony Amato, the company’s 88-year-old founder, broke the news to his company before Saturday night’s performance of The Merry Widow. Curbed did some digging and found that Amato sold the building to Croman Real Estate last month for $3.7 million, or $681 per square-foot. Steve Croman, the new owner, has been previously blasted by the Village Voice as one of the city's worst landlords, and it's doubtful that opera will still resonate from the old tenement theater after this season ends, with The Marriage of Figaro. The news comes despite a vow from Amato's niece to run the opera when he'd had enough. Last January Vanishing New York checked out an Amato production of La Boheme and prophesied, "Go and enjoy, before it's too late." Photo cred.