On November 10th, 2010, our class was lucky enough to get the chance to tour Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House. The night before, our class watched the debut of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, so we got a first-hand look at how beautiful the opera house is from the orchestra section. The opera stage was by no means small, but I had no idea how big it was behind the scenes.
My tour guide was a wise old woman who clearly had a passion for theater and the opera. She started the tour by explaining how competitive the opera business is; she told us how she knew an opera singer who was hired for a production five years before rehearsals even began. I knew that the theater industry was aggressive, but I did not realize how skilled and dedicated opera singers had to be. It seems as though unless you devote 100% of your time to honing your singing talent, it could prove impossible to land a role. She also explained how the beautiful chandeliers in the opera house were a gift from a theater group in Germany, and how all of the wood in the entire opera house was from one single tree.
After her brief history of the opera house, we began our behind-the-scenes tour. We traveled between floors, through dozens of rooms, met at least 15 members of the staff, and even met an actor who would be starring in Don Carlo. In every department, I was extremely impressed with the amount of effort the employees put into their work. In the wig department, I met a man who sewed individual strands of hair in order to make one wig. I saw a woman who was painting the plates that would be used as a prop in a show that night. I witnessed a man spray-painting fake grapes to give them the shine of real ones. I saw teamsters building and moving sets, electricians playing around with audio equipment, and stage managers panicking because they were running behind schedule. No matter where our tour guide took us, people were always busy working. I saw hundreds of people during our tour, and every single one was busy with some sort of task.
It was remarkable enough to see that there were countless people and dozens of departments working towards making the operas and plays the best that they could be. However, I found one thing even more extraordinary: the stage. The stage was essentially a giant, moving piece of art. There were 4 sections of the stage, and only one is visible during a performance. On either side of the main stage there is a moving platform, so the stage is interchangeable. I did not fully grasp how this worked, but I couldn’t believe how massive the space was. Somehow my group ended up getting the chance to step onto the main stage and look out into the seating area. The theater was absolutely breathtaking from the performers point of view, and I felt lucky that I was able to sit in those sites the night before.
After this tour, I ended up liking Cosi Fan Tutte more than I thought I did. I learned how much it takes just to perfect one show, and I should have kept that in mind when watching the show. I think it would have been better if we took the tour before seeing the opera, just because I can appreciate something more when I know that a lot of effort was put into it. Overall, I really enjoyed getting to take a tour of the Metropolitan Opera House.
Very nice review.