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| Staatsoper Foyer |
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One of the hallways people
wait in/run through for
standing room |
Yesterday I visited the Staatsoper for the second time. This time however, I was there for their Tag der Offenen Tür - essentially an open house where most of the building is open for people to walk around, observe, and interact. It was really a
very exciting night, and I will also be glad to have seen the inner-workings of the theatre when I return for operas in the future!
Since this wasn't an opera performance at all, much less one like the preceding night with an all-star cast, I didn't bother to show up too early. However, as I arrived I saw people holding printed slips. I managed to catch a glimpse of one and determined it was a ticket. I was disappointed and afraid I wouldn't get in, especially once I saw the mass of people in front of the theatre. I went by the standing room door, however, wondering if, even though not for actual standing places, they would have last minute or left over tickets there. The woman just in the door saw me and in an entirely German conversation, I asked about standing room and she sort of quizically looked at me, told me it was the open house day, and gave me a ticket which had a sale price of 0 Euros. I guess it's free and completely open but they want people to have a ticket nonetheless.
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| A zillion of these in one room - I've only posted photos of two |
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| Another giant... |
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| Staatsoper chandelier, over the seats |
In any case, I was then free to enter and I became like a kid in a candy shop. It was simply
amazing. I found myself going from place to place, area to area, exhibit to exhibit unable to repress a gleeful look as I avidly examined each and every facet they had on display. It was amazing to have the opportunity to walk into every seating area and box, into the pit, onto the stage, and into the bowels and rehearsal spaces of the theatre. I'll give some highlights of the "exhibits" available, as well as plenty of photos in general. On that note, my parents
would have been proud prior to this, as I had taken relatively few photos. In this single exhibition I took 125% of the photos I had taken to date since leaving Toronto...
Let me get a few general photos up first, before going through the exhibition ones:
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| From the Staatsoper balcony toward IES |
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| My most beautiful photo of this set - from the same balcony the other way with the moon |
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| The Parterre standing room places! Right at the back! |
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| From one of the nice boxes (You can see across what they're like) |
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| One of the nicest rooms in the Staatsoper for receptions or something - entry was off-limits (and maybe always is) |
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| Where I had standing room seeing my first performance (the first balcony above the boxes, not the more visible one) |
Now, photos from my tour of the stage!
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| The stage from out in the audience (where you'd normally see it) |
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The stage from on-stage - you can see how far back it goes, as much room again as is actually used for the stage so set pieces can be moved back there.
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| The house from the stage, as a singer would see it |
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The same situation off to stage-right - big enough to fit pretty much the whole size of the stage again.
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| Finally, below the stage, hard to tell, but almost as much room as onstage for set pieces to rise up from below, this is also presumably the shop where the set pieces are built if they are not rented. It was sadly not open (sorry Dad). |
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| Not quite on the stage but here is a view from the pit! |
Things they were exhibiting onstage:
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| Weapons... |
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Part of a set
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| Foam machine |
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| Skeleton (smoke machine) |
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| Annnnnnd a random swan that drove around... |
For the mechanically minded:
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| Set design diagram/plan |
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| Set model (for the same set, I believe) |
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| Woodworking on the floor (Dad) |
Costume Shop (there are lots more from here but I picked the best ones to put on the blog):
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| Don Giovanni Costumes |
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| Severed head prop |
Chorus Rehearsal Space:
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| The score for the previous night's opera! |
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| A whole room designed just for this purpose! |
Ballet Rehearsal Space & Staging Rehearsal Space (two different, huge rooms:
I think that's about it for the stuff I actually can put up here - there are a zillion photos, but not all of as high a quality. It was an amazing look at the building. I may yet go back for the guided tour, but it won't be as open of course. I tried to get a photo of me standing at some cool spot, but I didn't think of it until we were being ushered out. If I go on a tour I'll definitely try that!
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