The city’s Metropolitan Opera House, on Mahattan's Upper West Side, was forced to cancel a show on Sunday afternoon after a member of the audience poured what police believed to be cremated human ashes in the venue.
John Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism said: “An individual from out of town... indicated that he was here to sprinkle ashes of a friend, his mentor in opera, during the performance.”
A statement posted on the opera’s Facebook page said: “Today’s performance of Guillaume Tell was canceled during the second intermission because of a disturbance by an audience member, who sprinkled an unidentified powdered substance into the orchestra pit.”
The post was later updated to say a later performance had also been called-off while police carried out investigations.
The theatre was evacuated after the incident but no injuries were reported, police confirmed.
Officials added that suspect fled the scene and no arrests have been made.
