Backstage At The Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House streamed live today a ten-hour video of the backstage goings-on at the theater that was truly fascinating. The day closed with a prerecorded simultaneous look onstage and backstage at an actual performance of the full Act III of Die Walküre (the current Keith Warner production for the ROH that, if this act is representative of the whole, is a mildly Eurotrashy one more wrongheaded or just plain stupid than outrageous for the most part) and it was a real eye-opener to see the almost impossible coordination, mechanical and human, required among the 100-plus stage personnel to make it all come off onstage seamlessly and, as far as the audience was concerned, seemingly effortlessly (pay special attention to the Deputy Stage Manager (DSM): the amazing Sarah who calls out all the cues).

For those of you who missed today's webcast this part of it can be seen in full here. We think you'll find the viewing well worth the time spent.