2 days until the Lucia di Lammermoor premiere!

For the opening of the Met’s season on Monday, Music Director James Levine will be conducting Donizetti’s Lucia for the first time in his career. Two other debuts in this production have received considerably less attention: Murphy and Gracie are appearing on the operatic stage for the first time in their lives. They are Irish Wolfhounds and make their entrance at the beginning of Act I, in the scene where Enrico’s men are searching for Edgardo. Waiting backstage for the final dress rehearsal to begin this Thursday morning, the dogs show no visible signs of stage fright. “They’re very well-behaved and confident,” says their owner Robin Coen. Her husband, Chris, adds, “Nothing really upsets them.”

Robin Coen with her dogs backstage at the Met.

At just two and a half years old, the canine brother-and-sister act are already veterans in the business—they even have an agent. “They’ve done some print work for Ralph Lauren, among other things,” explains Nancy Novograd, who runs a business that provides animals for film, TV, and advertising. “But this is their theater debut.” When they’re not posing for the camera, Murphy and Gracie do a lot of racing. “Running is what they’re bred to do,” says Robin. “They’re hunting dogs, but they hunt by sight, like Greyhounds, not by scent. They need a lot of exercise, so we take them to classes to do different kinds of training. They’re pretty busy and actually missed a few races because of the rehearsals here at the Met.”

The wolfhounds in the first scene of Lucia.

“They just love to run,” Chris continues. “Gracie has been clocked at 28mph, she’s really fast.” The dogs’ singing colleagues seem to be aware of Murphy and Gracie’s skills. “You know,” Natalie Dessay jokes, “children and animals are usually very good on stage because they’re so natural. That’s why I prefer not to be in the same scene with them.”

Gracie (left) and Murphy, waiting for their entrance.

3 days until the Lucia di Lammermoor premiere!

After the curtain came down on the final dress rehearsal for Lucia di Lammermoor at yesterday’s Open House, the cast and production team assembled on stage for a Q&A session with the audience, hosted by Met radio announcer Margaret Juntwait. Asked whether working on an opera was different from staging a play, director Mary Zimmerman explained that it was mainly a matter of scale: “On a stage like the Met’s, everything is bigger,” she told the crowd, who had shown up for the free day-long event highlighted by the Lucia final dress. “What makes it easier is that I’ve been with the same design team for 15 years now, so we work really well together. The most important difference for me as a director is that with an opera, I’m not in control of the pace of things. In a play, I’m in charge. Here it’s the score.” One audience member wanted to know how soprano Natalie Dessay prepares for her mad scene in the third act. “I don’t prepare,” the French soprano answered, straight-faced. “I’m suffering.” After the laughter died down she went on to explain that, “we had almost four weeks of rehearsal, so we built everything little by little. Mary told me things she wanted, I added things, and so it all came together very well.”

A number of people seemed to be surprised that for the signing of the wedding contract in the second act, Dessay is wearing a red dress. “It’s true that in most productions, Lucia is wearing a white dress for this scene,” costume designer Mara Blumenfeld said. “But that’s not quite accurate. The signing of the contract and the actual wedding used to be two separate events. In our staging, the first scene takes place in the afternoon, with all the chorus members in day dress. The wedding party is in the evening, and for that, Lucia is in a white dress.” While Blumenfeld was doing research for the production, she found out that red was actually not an uncommon color for a wedding dress in the 1800s. “The white didn’t really become standard until the very end of the 19th century.” But there’s another thought behind the red: “It’s also a symbol for blood, it foreshadows what happens in the third act,” the designer explained. “Lucia is being used as a blood sacrifice for her family, and I wanted to show that by having her stand out among all the black, gray and silver in the second act.”

At 10 A.M. on Thursday, the Met opened its doors for the second Open House in company history.

Met Board member Agnes Varis underwrote the event together with her husband Karl Leichtman.

A lighting demonstration in the Met’s lobby.

On the Grand Tier, costumes were on display.

Lucia cast members Gracie and Murphy, two Irish Wolfhounds who make an appearance in the first scene of the opera, with their owner, Robin Coen.

Cecilia Brauer explains how to play a glass harmonica, the instrument featured in the Mad Scene of Lucia.

The cast and production team answering audience questions after the end of the rehearsal.

Taking a walk across the Met stage.

Photos: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera