News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-06-19
SEEN FROM THE GALLERY.
Stage Secrets That Are Disclosed to Those
Occupying Elevated Positions.

occupying Elevated POSITIONS.
1 viewed Der Gotterdammerung"
from an exalted pinnacle. l arrived
late at the Metropolitan, and a fifty
cent seat in the topmost gallery at the
extreme left of the stage was the best
that | could obtain. To one in such a
location, where only by leaning far for
ward in a most awkward fashion can
even glimpse of the stage be secured,
the elaborate scenic effects of the opera
are almost wholly lost.
But I made the pleasing discovery
that the occupants of the upper tiers in
one respect possess a decided advantage
over those who sit on a level with the
footlights From my dizzy height 1
could see into various little secrets of
stage mechanism which the Astors, the
Gerrys and the Iselins in their boxes
could only vaguely guess at.
There was the prompter first of all,
whose score and tvifching fingers were
7 ever before me as he studiously fol-
lowed the singers through the Wagner
ian maze encased in his little prompting
box. Then the mystery Of the Rhine
maidens' natatOrial act became to me al
most painfully transparent. l had be-
held these ''weird sisters" several times
before, but had never realized that it
was just in that way that their graceful
evolutions were performed.
They appeared nothing if not gro
tesque, running backward and forward
across the stage behind their filmy
screen and gesticulating in truly remark
able fashion. Had I not been aware of
their purpose l could never have i'm
agined that motions could have borne
the faintest resemblance to swimming.
1t seemed to be rather a quaint dance,
in which swaying arms and bodies, not
twinkling feet, had the bulk of the la
Dor to perform.
The practical utility of the tall tree
that rises from the center of the stage
in the scene near Gibichung hall was
also demonstrated as it could not have
been from any other coign of vantage.
It's ample trunk affords, 1 learned, an
admirable retiring room for delinquent
choristers. During the chorus of Gun
theirs vassals | saw one sturdy singer
slip into its shadow out of view of all
the great audience save myself, and
perhaps one or two others. Once hid
den he deliberately drew musical
score from the scabbard in which his
dirk was supposed to lie, and fell to
singing Justify with the rest, following
his notes with a studious zeal.
For fully ten minutes he was thus
out of sight, though not of hearing, and
not until the exigencies of the libretto
demanded did he sheathe his music and
quietly step out among his associates.
The wheels of the skiff that bore
Brunhilde down the Rhine revolved be-
fore my eyes with laughable obvious
ness. l was literally seeing, as few
others in the great auditorium could
see, 1.-The wheels go round" Still
another amusing feature of this ina
promptu byplay was the occasional ap-
pcarGlncc in the wings of a black
bearded gentleman in full evening dress,
including tall silk hat and bouton-
Mere of violetS At times he was so
close to some of the singers as to fairly
elbow them and from my eninence he
appeared to be in full view of the audi
ence, though of course he must have
been screened by the wings.
The incongruity of swallow tail coat
among the heroes of Walhalla was de-
lightfully absurd, and with this added
pleasure my enjoyment of this bird's-eye
view of the opera was complete. New
York Herald