By Jim Mullins

On Saturday evening, October 15, 1932, more than four-thousand music lovers--hundreds more than capacity--packed San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House for its premiere performance, a production of Tosca with the celebrated soprano Claudia Muzio in the title role. The enthusiastic audience hushed as Maestro Gaetano Merola raised his baton. Soon, the orchestra struck the somber opening chords and the beautiful gold brocade curtain billowed upward for the first time to reveal the chapel of Sant’ Andrea Della Valle. The dramatic power of Puccini’s wrenching tragedy began to weave its magic.

The commemorative program that opening night described the new War Memorial Opera House as a temple of music. In its cover story that week, Time Magazine hailed the stately, new Beaux Arts building as “easily the most attractive and practical building of its kind in the U.S. Indeed, the War Memorial was the newest and the best opera house in America. With state-of-the-art theatrical equipment that included an omnipotent 30-foot-long preset light board, it was a performing arts space that was both modern and innovative.

But since the War Memorial Opera House opened that day in 1932, there has been little time—or money—available for renovations or significant improvements to its theatrical infrastructure. With the building in use year round—by the Opera, Symphony, and Ballet—there was simply no time to close the house for any needed upgrades. As a result, by the 1980s, existing audio, video and communications systems were out of date. Backstage production facilities were crowded and inadequate. The lighting and sound systems, which had been designed for a bygone era, had been only sketchily updated over the years.

Then, in 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay Area and caused major damage to the Opera House. This calamity forced the City of San Francisco, which owns the War Memorial, to schedule repairs and a seismic retrofit for the House, which shut it down for the 1996 season. But, rather than being a total catastrophe, the earthquake provided the Opera and Ballet an unprecedented opportunity to bring the antiquated theatrical systems up-to-date.

“Opera houses often depend on calamity to be renewed,” said John Priest, coordinator of the renovation project for the San Francisco Opera. “Most of the houses in Europe renewed themselves by being devastated in war or by fire. In America, there aren't many occasions that devastate us, so in a way we were lucky."

“Everyone knew that we desperately needed to upgrade our systems, but nobody would take the time to do it because you can't do this kind of upgrade in less than nine months or a year. That means closing the house, and no company is going to wish a lost season on itself. So, when the earthquake came along, and the city decided that the Opera House needed a seismic upgrade, we naturally piggy-backed on it.”

To oversee the renovation and redesign of the entire theatrical infrastructure, the Committee to Restore the Opera House (CROH) retained the theatrical consulting firm of Auerbach + Associates of San Francisco. Auerbach + Associates had worked with the San Francisco Opera on other projects and is known for their creative innovations and ability to test the limits of existing technologies. Auerbach + Glasow, the architectural lighting design division of Auerbach + Associates, was also retained to design the renovation of the chandelier and other auditorium lighting elements.

“The theatrical renovation enables the Opera to compete world wide, putting on the most up-to-date productions,” said Jim Killoran, Executive Director of CROH. “This technology brings us into the 21st century and allows us to swap opera productions with opera companies all over the world. The theatrical renovations eliminate inefficient, jerry-rigged sound and lighting systems that had served the House for over 65 years.”

The Architect of Record for the entire project, including the CROH improvements, is the San Francisco Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Architecture. The structural engineer for the seismic upgrade is EQE/Structus. The CROH improvements are being designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of San Francisco and by the theater consulting firm of Auerbach + Associates. The entire project—a model of public-private partnerships—is estimated at $84.5 million, which has been raised through City funding and from the private sector through CROH.

Working closely with the technical and artistic staffs of the Opera and Ballet, Auerbach + Associates has designed and developed new theatrical systems, electrical infrastructure and stage lighting, backstage communications and sound systems, and stage rigging and controls that will serve both companies. Several of the systems break new ground in the performing arts world, according to Auerbach + Associates’ President S. Leonard Auerbach. “This project is very exciting from a professional point of view because it affords us an opportunity to push the envelope of what’s being done in the world,” Len Auerbach said. “It’s a chance to make the Opera House a real showplace for what can be done in theater design today.”

“Auerbach + Associates has done a good job. They are high tech and they have developed a state of the art system that should be the best when they are through,” said Lou Meylan, Project Director for CROH.

THEATRICAL LIGHTING

Auerbach + Associates collaborated with the Opera and Ballet to develop a theatrical lighting control system that is the most advanced of its kind in the world. The old control system—a rheostat board thirty feet long and five feet wide—had become more of a hindrance than a help, blocking out a large chunk of precious backstage space and circumvented by a complex, incremental system of patched cables and wires.

The new system that Auerbach + Associates designed has more than 2,000 dimmer and power circuits and is capable of controlling up to 4,096 devices. It is the first system to make extensive use of ethernet to distribute digital data throughout the theater, and like a computer network in a large office, the system allows seamless control of multiple devices from multiple locations, providing the Opera and Ballet with an extremely flexible artistic tool. “We’re pushing the entertainment lighting industry to do what the computer industry has been doing for some time,” Len Auerbach said. “Computer networks allow multiple people to log on to the same site at the same time. This is the same principle.”

Auerbach + Associates has also designed the complete replacement of the existing obsolete lighting system in the Opera House, providing new, architecturally integrated lighting positions in the auditorium, new light bridges above the stage, new portable lighting instruments, and an upgraded rear projection platform. It is the new lighting system that the audience will notice above all else.

“The theatrical lighting is now much more concealed and organized,” said Len Auerbach. “It looks much cleaner and is more integrated within the architecture. The audience will notice that there are fewer exposed lights, with actually more lighting sources from substantially new positions. The result on stage will be better lit productions.”

“The lighting instruments we were using were old and outdated,” said Peter Butt, Production Manager for the San Francisco Ballet. “The new equipment will give us brighter, more efficient, and up-to-date lighting instruments and a state-of-the-art lighting console. We’re also getting new color scrollers so that, rather than having just a single color gel, each light can now have upwards of 20 different colors that you can just change at the lighting console.”

“We needed these improvements badly,” says Peter Butt. “These technologies open up new doors and bring both companies up to where they should be in terms of modernization. It will give lighting designers, scenic designers, and choreographers the maximum amount of flexibility with scenery and lights. That’s when we will really reap the benefits of this system.”

Adds Len Auerbach, “The new application of an extensive control data distribution enables the use of remotely controlled moving lights and sophisticated projectors integrated with the lighting design to a degree never done before.”

AUDIO-VIDEO SYSTEMS

A critical part of the new infrastructure is the distribution of audio and visual signals throughout the Opera House. These vital distribution systems are the conduit for production monitoring, performer paging, production communications, special sound effects playback, sound reinforcement, and archival sound and video recording.

Auerbach + Associates developed a wiring infrastructure that uses almost 100 miles of A/V wire and cable to distribute signals throughout the building. The communications, audio, and video systems centralize control of all sound and communications, providing a new backstage communications and video system, a new sound and production center, a new speaker system in the auditorium, and a new stage manager's console.

As the world progressed in audio technology, we progressed as well,” said San Francisco Opera’s John Priest. “But our progress was measured by exposed, open wire. We ran cables all over the place, rarely putting anything into conduit because it was too expensive. And we got away with it year after year by saying that it was temporary, seasonal. By being seasonal, we ended up festooned with stuff—something like 100,000 feet of wire, much of it passing through holes in walls. Trying to trouble shoot a system like that was very difficult. This renovation is replacing all that with code-approved wiring in conduit.”

The new circuits terminate in a sound center that houses all signal processing equipment and a control room where full production control is managed. The new digital sound control console provides great control flexibility and automated presetting of levels.

Both the Opera and the Ballet now have their own production centers for the development of music sound scores and special effects.

OVERHEAD RIGGING

The structural renovation of the stage area required that the old, counterweighted rigging system—which “flies” scenery in and out of productions—be replaced. The original system had become unsafe and did not have the load-bearing capacity needed to fly heavy, modern scenery.

The new counterweight system doubles the capacity of the original system and is fully balanced at 1,800 pounds per line set. But even more important, the new system is partially motorized. Auerbach + Associates designed a unique tracked motorized assist system that allows up to twenty of the counterweighted rigging linesets—normally operated by hand—to be randomly motorized with variable speed hoists that make moving heavy pieces of scenery in and out of a set smoother and more seamless than is possible with hand-operated lines. This system of motors, which is a unique design, increases the capacity of each lineset another 1,000 pounds to 2,800 pounds.

“Moving scenery is back-breaking work,” said John Priest. “There’s a tremendous transfer of weight, all done by manpower—young, hard, strong backs.”

In addition to the motor-assist drives, Auerbach + Associates developed a system of motorized spotlines of 1,000 pound and 2,000 pound capacity each. These winch units permit the spotting of a lift line anywhere over the stage area.

Auerbach + Associates selected the most advanced computer rigging control system available to remotely control both the motor-assist system and the spotlines. This control system, never before used in an opera house in the United States, permits random and full choreographed scenery movement with the utmost safety.

According to Len Auerbach, the users are now able to motorize whichever linesets necessary, up to the number of motors available. The system will provide computer control of enough scenery pipes to do what the best-equipped house can do with a fully mechanized system. This means more artistic and seamless scene changes and effects for the audience.

According to John Priest, the new system will provide a better production quality. “In our production of The Magic Flute, for example,” he said, “ we have a cross-fade of scenery in the third act where we have seven pieces moving out and seven pieces moving in simultaneously. It’s all very, very fast and exciting and almost begs for applause."

“To achieve that effect we have fourteen guys hauling on fourteen different ropes, trying to execute the scene change simultaneously and synchronously. That’s almost impossible. It always comes in somewhat ragged. Now we can put those same fourteen pieces on fourteen motors and then put all the speeds and starting times into the computer and push one button. One person can do that from the deck. So you’ve saved a considerable amount on manpower, and created a stage effect with ultimate safety.”


MAIN CURTAIN

One of the most visible components of the Opera House, and a significant part of its history, is the beautiful, gold brocatelle main stage curtain. This silk contour curtain and its rigging weigh about 3,000 pounds and are operated by a motorized lifting system—also computer-controlled by the master rigging control system—that allows the curtain to be contoured in several profiles.

When renovation began and the main curtain and organ loft drapes were removed from the Opera House to be cleaned, they were found to be beyond repair. A decision was made to replace them and Auerbach + Associates was asked to duplicate the original drapes that were made for the War Memorial Opera House in 1932.

“The elegant silk brocade contour curtain is one of the really grand features of this Opera House,” said John Priest. “The curtain goes up in contours, or swags, and when it goes up and down, up and down, for God knows how many times, there is a tremendous amount of stress on the fabric. If you sew it, and the number of stitches are wrong, or you do it on the wrong bias, or the material is not correct, it could seize up on you. When you consider that the curtain costs a quarter-million dollars and the motors are another half-million, it’s a big item. We try to be careful.”

Auerbach + Associates sent a sample from the original 1932 curtain to the fabric manufacturer ScalamandrJ of Long Island City, New York. ScalamandrJ scanned the pattern of the original Beaux Arts curtain into a computer and then stretched and corrected it to fit the dimensional standards of the new curtain. With a new computerized loom that operated for two shifts a day for two months, ScalamandrJ used the scanned pattern to custom weave nearly 2,000 yards of 100 percent organza silk with a cotton backing. According to ScalamandrJ, this technology resulted in a quality of silk weaving that far exceeds the original in aesthetics and durability.

San Francisco Opera celebrates its 75th season in 1997, and, luckily for us, the War Memorial Opera House is still, “a temple of music.” Thanks to the innovative technical infrastructure that Auerbach + Associates has put in place, the War Memorial will again be able to boast of one of the most advanced theatrical systems in the world.

When the curtain rises for the premiere performance in the renovated War Memorial Opera House on Saturday, September 6, the technology will be much different, but the Opera—amid even the sets—will be much the same as the premiere performance on that Saturday night sixty-five years ago. Gaetano Merola and Claudia Muzio are long gone now, but the production of Tosca that they brought to life in 1932 will live again on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House when Maestro Nello Santi raises his baton and the curtain, “of seeming wrought gold billows upward, like receding waves on a vertical beach,” revealing the church yard of Sant’ Andrea Della Valle. The dramatic power of Puccini’s wrenching tragedy will once again weave its magic.