made4television: The Paris Opera House

This site was another of those where you climbed the stairs out of the Metro and there it was in all its glory--The Paris Opera House. Although it has been famous in Europe for years, it was made famous in America by Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera. The story, of course, has been around in many forms for a number of years.

The Paris Opera, also known as the Palais Garnier after its architect, is the site of performances of both Opera and Ballet. A newer Opera House, the modern Opera Bastille, is three times larger than this venue; both venues, however, are functional. Artists in the Acadamie Royale de Musique perform at both. Because the original Palais Garnier has a smaller stage, two-thirds of the Operas are performed there and one-third of the Ballets. The newer Opera Bastille hosts two-thirds of the Ballets and one-third of the Operas performed by the Acadamie.

Jordan, Carl, and Robert in front of the Palais Garnier

If you look on the street corner over Robert's shoulder, you can see the Phantom of the Opera crossing the street. He was in desperate need of a cup of coffee and a baguette.

One of the incredible sculptures on the front of the building.

One of the many balconies overlooking the Grand Staircase.

The ceiling you see in this picture is the ceiling of the Grand Foyer.

Our guide described this as a statue of a witch. Looks like Medusa to me.

This statue graced one of the three entrances to the Opera.

Napoleon III had his own entrance.

This statue is located at the entrance for the people who rented box seats for a entire year.

The third entrance was, of course, for the riffraff.

The lights at the Opera were originally gaslights. Throughout the Opera House, on and near the gas lines, Garnier placed salamanders, like the one in this picture. He chose the salamander because it is supposedly the only animal that can go though a fire unharmed. The talisman evidently worked. There has never been a fire at the Palais Garnier.

The Grand Staircase

Underneath the Grand Staircase is the entrance for the people who rented boxes for the season. They would walk up twin staircases out of sight on the left and right, climb the central staircase, and continue up the twin staircases to the left and right to their boxes. What you cannot see are the multiple balconies on three levels where other people stood to watch them as they entered.

As our guide explained, the whole point of the Opera was NOT to see, but to be seen. Patrons rarely even paid attention to what went on onstage. The real drama took place in the foyer, on the promenade, and in the boxes. I'll explain further as we go along.

These two statues stood at the entrance to the "amphitheatre," what we would call the orchestra. Together they represent Opera. The one on the right, holding a sword, represents drama; the one on the left, holding a lyre, represents music. According to the guide, they were quite controversial when the Opera opened. Their stance was considered too casual; their bearing too unladylike.

A more recent and equally controversial addition to the Opera is the ceiling painting in the auditorium by Marc Chagall that surrounds the famous chandelier. Installed in 1964, the new painting caused quite a stir. While many patrons liked the bold style of the painting, others thought that it clashed with the style of the opera house.

The orchestra seats in the auditorium are red velvet mini-thrones complete with arms and gold-leaf decorations.

In the lower right hand corner, just to the left of the column in the infamous Box 5, the Phantom's Box.

A Closeup of the Phantom's Box

This box was considered the best in the house. It is perched stage right, just off stage.

Patrons considered it the best because it was the box from which one could best be seen. Of course, this was Napoleon's box. Unfortunately, he never got to sit in it. He died the year before the Opera House opened.

If you scroll back up to the picture of the Phantom's box above, you will see a curtain at the back of the box. That curtain marks the beginning of the sitting room that is a part of each box. This picture shows the depth of the sitting room. A couch was affixed to each side wall of the sitting room, and chairs from the box could be moved back into the space. Our guide had no idea what might have happened in those boxes during the production. Nothing occurred before the show or during intermission. These times were reserved for promenading (a fancy word for traipsing around or flouncing about) in the Grand Foyer and up and down the Grand Staircase.

The Stage as seen from one of the boxes. The white wall behind the high curtain is, in fact, a fireproof security wall. The Opera had it installed in case the auditorium caught fire. Presumably, the wall would preserve the stage and backstage areas. Fat chance.

The door reads: "Loge du Fantome de L'Opera"

Jordan and Jay on the central balcony overlooking the Grand Staircase

Detail from the ceiling of a small room off the Grand Foyer called night. Note the birds of the night, bats and owls, circling the ceiling.

Column Detail in the Grand Foyer

Columns and doorway from the Grand Foyer to balconies overlooking the Grand Staircase

Tie-back detail from the curtains above. Jordan wanted this documented so that she could see if Bed, Bath, and Beyond could order tie-backs in this size.

This picture gives you some idea of the width of the Grand Foyer. It was designed to be 10 ball gowns wide, to facilitate the traipsing and flouncing at intermission that I mentioned earlier.

This is the ceiling of the room at the opposite end of the Grand Foyer called Day. Note the sunburst ceiling with dragons circling the pendant for the chandelier.

The Menu for the Palais Garnier was "printed" in the tapestries that hung on the wall.

Each tapestry took two years to weave. The menu: