CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Rachel Tobias has probably called 100 shows at the Lyric Opera over the last 21 years, but the latest edition of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" is a whole new challenge.
"Oh, yeah. When I first saw this show in Los Angeles, I was a little overwhelmed. There's so much going on," she recalled. "But after three weeks of rehearsals, everything comes together."
Tobias is a musician, herself, a piano and vocal performance major in college, and her first job was at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
"I quickly realized I didn't want that kind of lifestyle. I didn't want to travel as a performer. So I tried work backstage. When I was hired as rehearsal assistant at the Lyric, it just felt right," she said.
Tobias quickly moved up the ranks to Stage Manager.
"I'm kind of like the air traffic controller of the production. We are the point person between the administrative staff, as well as the artistic and production staff," she said.
Each performance run, the stage manager meets with the crew, directors, and designers to make sure their vision is being implemented.
"We take notes throughout the process. We have a timeline when these notes need to be completed. Then we start putting the costumes together, the wigs, we introduce the orchestra and the stage lights. We make sure the singers are together with the scenery, what needs to modified, we make sure that everyone is safe on stage. That's my job," she said.
Tobias just finished "Macbeth", Lyric's first show after 18 months in the dark due to the pandemic.
"For Macbeth, that was a standard opera. Down right is where the stage manager's console is. I have a headset. I'm hooked up to the light board operator, I talk to spot operators, I have the guys who are in the trap room, the motor operators, the guys who are on the rail. At any given time, I'm connected to about 10-15 different individuals directly," she said.
But the "Magic Flute" is a whole different animal.
The entire opera is performed by the live singers in front of a massive video screen.
"Singers are used to working on set with props. All they have is a white wall here and they can't see the projections. I have to work with the singers to implement the cues both musical and visual," said Tobias, and much of the cast are in harnesses.
"You're going to see a silent movie. You’re going to see these singers on two levels of the white wall. We have 24 harnesses hanging up on the wall each day. They get set on the wall, safely clipped in. Each door has two crew guys. Hopefully what the audience will see is this seamless production of these singers going on and off stage and realizing that all of that smoothness is a well choreographed machine going on stage."
Tobias admitted the "The Magic Flute" gives her the most anxiety. She keeps her cue book close. She calls it her bible, a book with more than 200 pages, filled with 736 cues she gives during the nearly three-hour show.
"This book doesn't leave this building. If I get hit by a bus, my score doesn't get hit by a bus, so this stays here," she laughed.
Tobias said a stage manager has to be a pretty good multi-tasker especially in a show like "The Magic Flute."
"You can't panic and you gotta just keep moving forward. If it's something you can work your way through, you just continue. As a stage manager, we're not used to being seen. The only time you see the stage manager you know something happened and something is wrong. As a stage manager, you never want to be seen, you only want to be heard," she said.
She works side by side with Tom Fernandez, an IATSE electrician who anticipates her cues and pushes the necessary buttons.
"I just call projections in this show, things go so quickly. It's just go, go, go, look up at the stage go, look up at the stage, go, go. It's relentless. You can't panic and you gotta just keep moving forward.”
As one of the few women stage managers in the business for 20 years, she realizes she's a role model in a male dominated industry. She said since she started, there's been a revolution for females backstage.
It takes more than 50 people behind the scenes to make sure the cast is in the right place and the lighting and projections are on cue. Tobias said it's a team effort and it’s gratifying when the curtain falls and she hears the roar of the applause, something she can't describe.
"You just have to have faith that everything's going to come together and you've rehearsed enough. My adrenaline rush doesn't hit until after the show. It's so rewarding when you see young singers succeed and when the show runs relatively smoothly. It's never perfect, but if the audience is happy, we are too,“ she smiled.
"The Magic Flute" performs at the Lyric Opera of Chicago through Nov. 27.
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