Birthdays at the Sydney Opera House

Well… I have officially surpassed the quarter-life mark (potentially/hopefully) and entered into my 26th year. Yay, happy birthday, self! Now I’ve entered the hunt to regain health insurance, boo.

Looking at where I stand at 26, I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve gained so many experiences in my early 20s, and over the last year, I sure have definitely leapt (like when I quit my job) and I’ve definitely challenged myself (like when I quit my job with minimal savings in the bank). I’ve defied the norm of becoming cozy and I’m pretty proud of that.

Looking at where I was when I was 16, I never thought that in ten years I would be where I am today. I couldn’t even think as far as year 26! I had imagined that at this age I would have [adopted] a baby, lived some strong solo independent life and have some awesome penthouse in NYC on the Upper East Side. Oh, how the first and latter thoughts are far from who I am today!

Enough with all of that, I can’t wait to tell you how I treated myself to one of the most magical theatrical experiences I’ve had in my life (and I mean, this experience surpasses the level of awesomeness when I saw Into the Woods at Shakespeare in the Park in 2012 featuring Donna Murphy, Chip Zien and Amy Adams, which I thought was a triumphant moment as well). I treated myself to a VIP backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House.

I was really stuck between taking the general opera house tour ($37 AUD) and the VIP backstage tour ($165 AUD), but knew that it really was going to be worth the extra dollars in the end and I knew that if I didn’t do it, I would regret the decision terribly. As an FYI, the general tour allows you entrance into the theater houses with a brief history of the site, but the VIP tour allows you backstage, under-stage, above-stage AND house access, with a knowledgeable guide providing historical facts as well as a lot of fun useless information. Seriously, you have to splurge for the VIP tour if you are an arts lover!

I happened to be the only person on my tour with a dance/theater background, and there were many times I was the only one from our nine person group that got misty-eyed.

What I learned about the history of the opera house:

It took 16 years to build and officially opened in 1973. It also took two architects to build. The first, Jørn Utzon, won the government run international design competition for the opera house. A few years later when new government officials questioned his concepts and blocked funding, Utzon resigned from the project after fabricating the exterior. The second architect, Peter Hall, developed all of the interior design (adapting from Utzon’s original designs). This information is not advertised too much and many believe that Utzon was the sole proprietor for the project – I found this completely fascinating (and have been researching like crazy ever since the tour!).

What I learned about the iconic roof:

The design team selected a certain material for the roof to avoid weathering – concrete shells and precast enameled porcelain cladding of the shells are used for protection – while the roof was designed as a geometrical parabola. The material is “self-cleaning,” meaning that it avoids any mold development, weathering and never gets washed (other than by the rain).

Some other fun facts:

– Approximately 3,000 events occur within the opera house each year. They maximize every inch of the space including the five theater halls, the backstage areas and the theater foyers.
– The opera house has five resident companies – Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, The Australian Ballet, Sydney Symphony and Bell Shakespeare.
– Disclaimer: this fact, I am not so sure about – The origin of the phrase “break a leg” comes from when an actor has so many curtain calls that the ‘leg’ (a vital part of raising and lowering the curtain) would break from the strain of repeatedly raising and lowering the curtain for bows.

So what did I see?

Well, I started my tour walking through the stage door and a corridor area (much like the Disney World tunnels) leading to the backstage areas. My first stop included a glimpse into the Playhouse Theater, which was being used for Bell Shakespeare’s production of Henry V.

This theater is available for theatrical performances, movie screenings, cabarets, and small orchestras (however, not one orchestra has played in this hall seeing as they always use the Concert Hall).

Our second stop on the tour was the Joan Sutherland Theater, which was absolutely my favorite stop on the entire tour. This stage is currently in use for the King and I, and walking backstage and within the orchestra pit was entirely too warming for my dancing heart.

I gained some fun information about this stage!

First, there is an open space and elevator underneath the stage (the room is about the size of another stage in its entirety). This elevator is used for moving grand scenery into place as well as raising live animals during a production. During a show of Carmen, a live horse needed to enter the stage at one point. Knowing that horses are pretty timid, there was always an additional horse and one donkey on stand-by in case the star horse gained a case of stage fright (and a donkey in case the star and the back-up have contagious stage fright).

Second, a Russian opera used live chickens in a performance, which turned into a chicken running loose and landing on a cellist’s head in the orchestra pit. Since then, a double layer of mesh netting was placed in the gap between the stage floor and the pit to catch any pesky creatures. It was tested by the weight of 70 chickens.

After doing a quick tour jete on the grand stage as the group moved on to the next theater, I made my way over to the world-renowned Concert Hall, the largest theater housed within the opera house. The stage was surprisingly small, but the space did not disappoint.

I learned that if the ceiling lights need any maintenance, they are accessed from the exterior of the ceiling (rather using a crane to extend to the ceiling).

I also learned that the Grand Organ cost $1.2 million and 10 years to produce. It was expected to cost only $400,000. And the designer, Ronald Sharp, continues to visit the venue whenever the organ is maintained.

One of the last stops on the tour was The Studio, a smaller blank page style theater that could be molded for any specific production. Chairs, curtains, lighting and sound advancements have led to productions of cabarets, drag shows, musical bands and educational courses.

At the end of the tour, our group ate a lovely breakfast in the green room space used by production workers, performers and directors alike. I’m still digesting all of the majestic brilliance of this structure!

❤ nomademoisellemel