Our Night at the Opera

By: Queena Kim

The San Francisco Opera is getting attention for its larger-than-life production of "Aida," but what about what happens behind the stage?   |  CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE

On Thursday, our crew of citizen journalists and our photographer for the evening, Russel Daniels, headed to the War Memorial Opera House where the San Francisco Opera was performing "Aida." We spent more than four hours there, but I can't tell you a thing about the show. That’s because we spent our time behind the scenes, where I learned some interesting tidbits:  

There's a hospital in the basement of the opera house.

They still rent old opera glasses.

The opera house has one of the last elevator operators in San Francisco, and his name is James Padover.

Another thing I learned: People who work at the opera wear a lot of hats. As "Aida" was about to start, Micah Standley, left, was upstairs surrounded by opera scores. Standley is the Opera’s “publications editor” by day, but at night, he helps the people who videotape the opera read the score so they know where to shoot.

If you don't have time to experience the entire evening with us, I'd like to point you to a few of the really special moments. We videotaped opera star Dolora Zajick warming up offstage just before the curtain was going up. And when the curtain closed? We shot a charmingly candid video of music director Nicola Luisotti, who was exuburant but brain-dead and hungry. Enjoy a night at the opera.

 

To see much more of our "Night at the Opera" click here