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The San Diego Opera’s Samson and Delilah is all about scale.
IAN CAMPBELL: It’s a big sucker. Behind us we have the load in of the set for Samson
and Delilah, and the load in is when everything comes off the truck and then is assembled
on stage. It’s one of the biggest sets actually put up in this theater and it takes an awful
lot of people to put it together as you can see…. The moment the curtain goes up you
know where it’s set you know that it’s grand, you know that Cecil B DeMille was involved.
RON ALLEN: it is indeed a Cecil B. DeMille production in every way shape and form, this
set takes up the whole stage what you don’t see on stage is back stage being in storage
and it’s huge there is no space to move at all.
IAN CAMPBELL: Works of this scale always scare us. So with orchestras, choruses, wig and
make up crew, electricians, stage hands just go through it it’s an astonishing number
of people.
RON ALLEN: This one we have 3 different scenes and they are moving all the time there’s
a 25 minute intermission to do the scene change even with 41 guys. Well it’s choreographed.
CREW 3, 2, together.
RON ALLEN: Our stage hands have to rehearse because this wall has to go here, and before
that you have to move the other wall out and you have to move that wall in and this can
go out and another piece has to go in from above but of course before you can move that
you have to move another set… our technical director really choreographs it…
CREW Now start heading toward stage left…
RON ALLEN: It takes the rehearsal of the backstage people just as much as the people on stage
to get a production correct.
For director Lesley Koenig getting the production correct means making sure the small details
get as much attention as the big ones.
LESLEY KOENIG: I really like telling the story, having the intimate moments on stage even
in a scene with 120 people. The story comes first. I really like a clean visual asthethic
so we’ve cut lots of stuff out of it and pared the set down to the essentials.
To make sure the right things are pared down and the essentials are let in, Koenig likes
to walk around the theater during rehearsals.
LESLEY KOENIG: I like to come down and really see people up close, it’s one thing to sit
back where we tech the show which is always row M, that’s where you sort of get the
perspective on what the stage looks like you can see the stage floor so you can see if
the light’s spilling and what not but I like to come up close to see what they look
like up close and then I know they are going to look good faraway.
Samson and Delilah is a good first opera since the story is such a familiar one.
IAN CAMPBELL: It’s in the Bible, we all have some image of Samson and having his hair
trimmed which makes him less potent so that he can be captured.
STEVEN BRYANT: This is kind of a fun one because they actually decided to do the haircutting
onstage, a lot of times they go off stage and the wig person will be back there to cut
it off. But we have a really great mezzo who is really good with the scissors and she knows
exactly where to cut every single night she’s been spot on. And so what we’ve done is
this wig has to be used over and over again so the back of it is rows of wafted hair that
every day we take these out after they have been cut and put them back in and then there
are some little secret ones up here that are long that blend in, if I show it to you you
can see the cut line where she cuts every night. And so we’ve blended it in with other
long ones so you can’t really tell where the cut line is and so we cut it actually
on stage in full view of the audience which makes it a little bit more spectacular and
right after they’ve cut his hair, the guards come out because he no longer has his strength,
the guards come out and gouge his eyes out with a red hot poker, and so we’ve come
up with this, this is just a Halloween effect that we’ve modified a little bit, it’s
the gouged out eyes there’s a little piece of scrim that when the light that you won’t
be able to see his eyes in there but he still has to see the conductor and then when this
gets on his face there’s other blood effects that come dripping down his face and it’s
a real gory effect, it looks really good.
And that brings us back to the notion of scale. The opening of act 3 contrasts a monumental
set with the suffering of the blinded Samson.
LESLEY KOENIG: He’s pushing a great grist mill and that scene when he’s alone and
he hears the voices of his people in his mind is just so stunning then the next thing you
see in a scene change is 120 people onstage in a huge philistine bacchanale. And it’s
really spectacular. So it’s a really great story it’s easy to understand, it’s exciting
and you know it ends with the demise of a temple.
RON ALLEN: The collapse is the best it just is the best it’s grand in every way shape
and form. … basically what happens with it is there are statues on both sides that
will tilt as he is pulling down the temple; the pillars are structured if you were a kid
had one of these horses that was taunt and then if you pressed the bottom and it loosened
the strings it kind of collapsed, that’s actually the principle of the pillars. We
release the tension on the pillars and they kind of collapse like that little horse did
as a toy so it looks like the whole thing is coming down. There’s screams, there’s
thunder, there’s fire, it’s really terrific just great.
Spoiler alert: They all die. But you’ll have to attend the opera to see exactly how.
Beth Accomando, KPBS News.