latimes.com: Opera audiences are used to seeing performances awash in spectacle. But they rarely get to glimpse the magic that occurs between shows -- namely, “the changeover,” when one production is taken down and another takes its place. “It’s like working a huge jigsaw puzzle,” says Rupert Hemmings, director of production at Los Angeles Opera. “It may seem haphazard, but everything’s done in order.”
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
L.A. Opera's makeover, from 'Cosi' to 'Onegin' in 4 1/2 hours
latimes.com: Opera audiences are used to seeing performances awash in spectacle. But they rarely get to glimpse the magic that occurs between shows -- namely, “the changeover,” when one production is taken down and another takes its place. “It’s like working a huge jigsaw puzzle,” says Rupert Hemmings, director of production at Los Angeles Opera. “It may seem haphazard, but everything’s done in order.”
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3 comments:
Watching the video of that changeover it looks to me more like a set change than a load-in, everything is so smoothly coordinated that it looks like they do it twice a week if not more. All of the set pieces seem to have been designed just to be put in place, presumably locked together, and then the next layer comes in. This is more like a touring production than a set load-in, and is in huge contrast to what we see in Purnell with week-long load-ins. I'm left wondering what they do with the lighting, I didn't see anyone doing anything to adjust or focus anything but perhaps that was just omitted from the video.
Really impressive to see how smoothly that changeover happens, as Tom has already noted, and that everything has been designed so that it can be easily taken apart and put together. Nonetheless, that doesn't make it any less impressive considering what that they install a completely different set with a water effect no less in 4 and a half hours. Would be interesting to see if there was the same designers for both shows, or how they coordinated together and with the opera in order to get everything to work together and make this changeover so smooth.
It is very impressive how smoothly coordinated this changes is. 4.5 hours is not a long time but the workers are so efficient with their jobs and so calm that it all looks so smooth. This process seems so natural that it looks like they have practiced it many times. I would be interested to find out why they waited multiple days before switching the sets.
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