The Detroit News here's still a forlorn bush sprouting above the Corinthian pillars of the Detroit Opera House's Broadway entrance, but rest assured, the little plant's days are numbered. From the arch to the fire wall at the back of the audience, the original hall has been meticulously restored, Czech glass chandeliers and all, to the glory it enjoyed before the pipes burst after its 1985 abandonment. Chief among the newly constructed features is the stage itself. At 65 feet, it's deeper than any other in Detroit, a high-tech affair that cantilevers 16 feet out over the new orchestra pit without resorting to a single column. The result, she says, is an unusually strong, springy stage that can accommodate the heaviest operas and ballets without developing grooves or dents.
Workers glue hand-painted canvas panels to the main arch.
Ultimately, says English master plasterer Chris Richardson, he and his partner from Madison Height's Commercial Interior Systems, Joe Helmle, had to assemble 22 plasterers to replace 90 percent of the ceiling and only a slightly smaller amount of wall surface. Nor was the plaster strictly an esthetic issue. Matt Slade demolishes a plaster wall too damaged to repair. On with the show t's tough enough to have the opera ready, but when you're building the theater, too, well that's another sphere of difficulty entirely. Assembled here to make sure the show goes on are just some of the painters, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, stagehands and riggers.