Final Week of Rehearsal
page 10

Technicalities I was surprised at how much high-tech equipment is required to produce an opera, something that seems to be such a nontechnical enterprise. Aside from the actual mechanism of the stage, which is relatively uncomplicated in our production, we’re surrounded by electronic equipment. During performances and rehearsals, the conductor in the orchestra pit is displayed on video monitors placed both onstage (in several locations and positioned at many angles so that performers can keep track of his movements) and backstage (for the benefit of offstage conductors, singers, and technicians). Other monitors, including one in the artists’ lounge, show activity onstage as it appears to the audience.

The stage manager’s station appears very complicated, with buttons, switches, microphones, monitors, and a computer screen which, I believe, keeps track of time and cues. Assistant directors and stage managers wander around wearing communications headsets so that they can keep track of who’s where when and what’s going on behind the scenes. From ubiquitous loudspeakers, the stage manager’s air-traffic-controller voice announces entrance cues and production requests, such as, “Mimes to the stage, please, for the ride to the abyss.” The sound of the opera in progress is piped backstage. For some reason, the best sound is invariably in the bathroom.

Bbbbbbbb The opera opens with an aria sung by Faust, during which we are onstage, although hidden. His vocal warm-ups just before the curtain rises consist of several toddler noises, which never fail to crack us up. “Look at kids,” he explains. “They can scream all day and never get hoarse.”

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First Day - 1 2
Second Day - 3 4
Second Week - 5 6
Third Week - 7 8 9
Final Week - 10 11 12

"Mimes to the stage, please, for the ride to the abyss."
—Stage Manager