During the scene change before the signing of the wedding contract in the second act of Lucia, a large rug is rolled out on stage in full view of the audience. “During rehearsals,” David Ellertson of the Met’s Design Department points out, “we realized that the edge of the rug wouldn’t stay down on the stage floor because it’s rolled up during the entire preceding scene. But of course we couldn’t risk one of the singers tripping over it. So what we did was sow an aluminum bar into the edge. Now the rug stays perfectly flat.”

David Ellertson with the set model for the second act of Lucia.

In the Met’s new Lucia, the very first scene takes place in a forest at night. The lighting recreates the eerie atmosphere of the moon shining through the trees. Members of the Met’s Electrical Department explain how this is done in one of the presentations on the Grand Tier: “You put a metal pattern in front of the light, and then you have it rotate slowly,” one of them explains. “It’s actually pretty easy to do, but the effect is spectacular.” One visitor would like to know if the lighting crew has to read the score for their cues. “Fortunately for us, we don’t,” comes the answer, with a laugh. “That’s the Stage Managers’ job. They have the score in front of them during the performance and call the cues, not just for the lighting but also for the set changes, and of course for the singers, so that everybody is on stage on time for their entrance.”

A member of the Met’s Electric Department explains the use of a lighting console.

Before the curtain went up on today’s Lucia di Lammermoor dress rehearsal, Met General Manager Peter Gelb welcomed the Open House audience from the stage. “When we did this for the first time a year ago,” he said, “Mayor Bloomberg joked that the Met was probably the only place in New York where you could get a free lunch.” Gelb thanked Met patrons Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman for underwriting the Open House for the second year in a row and went on to say, “Today, we offer you not only a look behind the scenes and a free lunch, but a true free musical feast.” The audience burst into spontaneous applause when Gelb announced that “this event will be taking place for many years to come.”