La Salle in the City goes backstage at the Met

La Salle Academy’s latest La Salle in the City excursion was a showstopper for students! Earlier this month, 11 boys participated in a unique 90-minute backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center.

Conducted by Met Opera Guild members, the tour exposed La Salle’s students to production areas usually not seen or imagined by the general public. Sets were being built and costumes were being created. The students also saw how sets were being placed and removed by huge machinery operating on a multi-tiered stage by hundreds of union employees. The students could hear the singers rehearse as well as see blocking in raked rehearsal rooms for upcoming productions.

The history of the old and new Met was discussed by a very knowledgeable tour guide but not before everyone took a seat in the nearly empty auditorium to experience the vast size of the 3,800 seat hall and the jaw-dropping 103 by 90 foot stage.