h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Visiting a Traditional Opera House - A582068
Author: Azara - U172739

This was intended as part of a project I started years ago, and promptly abandoned. So now I've dusted it off, and will welcome comments.

How cool, Azara!

I'd like to see a bit more about backstage, though. One could walk into an opera house and see the house for oneself; I'd like to know what it's like in the areas where the ordinary person can't go!

I was wondering about that, but my problem is that that kind of thing varies far more than the front-of-house, and pretty well all the technicalities are specific to individual houses. Covent Garden have a giant lift taking huge lorries to the right level for offloading scenery brought from a warehouse in Wales, but they have props and costume workshops on site; the Vienna Staatsoper is cramped because its site is surrounded by roads, with nowhere to expand into; Budapest has the grilles of a 19th century air conditioning system that used dry ice: the 1960s building of the New York Met has just one window that opens (in the lead soprano's dressing room, as a special favour for one singer) etc. etc.

I suppose I could do a general old house/renovated house contrast for things like scenery...I'll think about it!


Azara

Maybe you could use those examples you mentioned as evidence of the quirky nature of opera houses. That would be sufficient to satisfy my curiosity.

What an interseting idea for an entry I must admit, though, that from the title, I was expecting a piece about how to book a ticket, what to wear, what to do, what not to say etc, rather than a description of what makes an opera house.

You have, however, given me an idea for an entry , having spent some time working as a stagehand for the English National Opera

Somewhere in the entry there's a 'provoding'.

Oh, and following on from that - a lot of the people who do get to go backstage are really quite ordinary, emr

Like me

You're right, Bravo Hotel! Now that you mention it, that's a fairly natural interpretation of the title. Hmm, I'll change it to "The Layout of a Traditional Opera House" and see how that works. I'm still thinking about how much more to include about backstage.

Stagehand at ENO? You certainly should have some stories worth telling! Was that in their glory days of over-the-top Eurotrash productions?


Azara

"It is typical of the more half-hearted approach in England to both opera and the Royal Family that the Royal Box in Covent Garden is at the side of the auditorium, with a skewed and inferior view of the stage."

On the other hand, this does allow the Royal Box to have its own toilet facilities and separate exit.

You say "The presence of boxes along the sides of the horseshoe makes little difference to the seating capacity" but elsewhere you say "this is normally U-shaped, with the length of the sides deciding the audience capacity".
Either these are contradictory or I'm misunderstanding you.

provoding space for people --> providing space for people

The footnote should be before the full stop at the end of the sentence, rather than after it.

Isn't it true that La Fenice got its name because it was burnt down so many times?

Would it be worth providing a comparison with a modern opera house such as the Opera Bastille, for comparison?

Gnomon said:
"You say "The presence of boxes along the sides of the horseshoe makes little difference to the seating capacity" but elsewhere you say "this is normally U-shaped, with the length of the sides deciding the audience capacity".
Either these are contradictory or I'm misunderstanding you."

Oh, that's not very clear, is it? The length of the horseshoe determines the capacity, since a longer horseshoe will have more rows in the stalls. The sides of the horseshoe are never more than a couple of rows deep, as the sightlines turn bad very quickly. If those couple of rows are divided into boxes, the capacity is about the same, but the viewing is dramatically worse from the back of a box compared with the second row of an open gallery. I'll have to think about how to clarify the entry on this point...

With regard to more modern opera houses, I do mention that the main difference in the auditorium is the absence of boxes. The only really modern house I've been in is Amsterdam, and I can't remember any other noticeable difference in the front of the house. Plainer, but comfortable seats, more legroom maybe...did anything else strike you about the Bastille? I think that the biggest differences are backstage, and on EMR's suggestion I'm already considering how to expand that bit.

Small changes:
--Practical advantages of covent Garden's Royal Box mentioned
--I've added a reference to the Phoenix for La Fenice
--typo 'provoding' fixed
--footnote full stop fixed

Off to ponder the backstage, the contrast between old and new, and a bit more clarity about seating capacity.....

Azara

I just wanted to say how surprised and delighted I was to discover an entry like this in Peer Review - I honestly thought that all of our wonderful researchers must have at least *touched* on pretty much every possible subject under the sun... and then this comes along!

Hurrah!

Paully

"You don't have to stand up to let lesser mortal pass."

I laughed at this the first time, but didn't notice:
a lesser mortal, /or/ lesser mortals.

for the kind comments, Paully!

And well spotted, midgetmogget: "lesser mortals pass" now corrected.

For the larger points:
I've added a small amount to the 'Stage and Backstage' section to mention the fly tower and stage machinery. I've added a larger section on 'Renovations' which goes into more detail about modern backstage technology, and also improvements to the front-of-house. I think this gives at least a flavour of what may be going on backstage.

Still pondering the capacity question...

Azara

I've just discovered (and linked) an excellent Edited Entry on Stage Machinery at A1304821--I can't understand how I missed it before! It goes into lots of detail, so I'm happy now that my entry has enough about backstage in it.

Azara

Great topic for an entry!

The section on the pit (where the animals are ) could be expanded - sometimes it extends underneath the stage. The conductor must of course have a view of what is going on on stage, and sometimes cameras are employed to assist in this. Musicians can also play in other areas off stage - again, cameras are much used these days - not sure what happened in olden days!

No mention of the Green Room?

Stage Door protocol?

Maybe mention that a stage is "raked" ie at an angle, to make it easier for the audience to see the action upstage. (hence the terms upstage downstage)

Rakes vary from one establishment to another, and performers will take time to try a new one out and get familar with it before a show.

sorry, ideas keep ccoming back to me after I've hit "post"

Sound desk and lighting box. The link to stage machinery is good, but sound and light effects are just as important to the finished magic.

(And as an aside from a performer's point of view: the sound and lighting crew are very important people to be nice to - they are the ones responsible for ensuring that your mike is working correctly, and that spotlight is on you when it needs to be...)

But in opera you don't have a mike.

Fair point. I did just mention it as an aside.

Though opera houses stage other musical (et al) productions as well as just pure opera. And there'll still be a sound desk/ sound technicians involved.

The only other non-operatic productions put on at the Coliseum while I worked there were The Nutcracker (at Christmas) and a summer season by the Bolshoi. I reckon that most opera houses will only put on music and/or events of a classical nature, and if they do happen to put on anything that requires a soundboard they'll either hire one or it'll be provided by the artistes, such as a rock band touring with their own equipment and sound techs. The only thing that I remember which comes anywhere close to a soundboard, was the stage manager's console.

Oh, btw - the high balconies are also called 'the nosebleeds', for obvious reasons