Everyone in the office teases me periodically because I have a thing for rainbows, but I had the last laugh this September when we helped our buddies at the Metropolitan Opera with their Fall Opening Gala, celebrating their radical and brilliant new production of DAS RHEINGOLD, the first installment of Wagner’s RING CYCLE. If you are unfamiliar, there is a rainbow within the production that becomes a “bridge,” and it is a juicy visual that couldn’t fit ME more to a T!
While the director Robert Lapage’s production lassoes all kinds of radical projection and digital technologies to create ever moving effects on stage that are mind blowing, we went the opposite direction with our event décor. While low-tech, we also created something quite transformative using thousands of yards of white string, suspended from the ceiling in gently swaying curtains, varying in lengths up to 20 feet. In doing so, we radically changed the ceiling height of the vast tent, creating an abstract “sky” in which we could project moody colors and moving textures. Slicing through the string curtains with laser accuracy, a rainbow of intense ribbon created our own bridge of drama, starting above the entry doors and zooming into the distance. This was an absolute transformation of the everyday and terrifically effective as the guests entered the tent to audible gasps.
Flowers were exotic and otherworldly, glowing golds and glossy greens, arranged in an array of gold and black containers and conceived to create a stylized, natural counterpoint to the abstract sky. Table linens were iridescent blacks and golds, and the tent walls were draped in a neutral ivory that became saturated with the hues from the brilliant lighting designed by Scott Davis from Bentley Meeker Lighting and Staging.
The opening of the Fall season at the Met is simply one of the most fabulous evenings of the year, and we are so proud to be part of such a cultural phenomenon. My sincere thanks goes out to all of my friends at the Opera. We made something really special TOGETHER. Thank you for the honor and the opportunity.
xoxo
D.
P.S. The night of the premier was quite stormy, but that did not stop hundreds of people with umbrellas from sitting and enjoying the free simulcast that the Met broadcasts on a grand screen on the plaza of Lincoln Center at every opening. Standing back, watching the crowd, I was touched once again by what an incredible place New York City is.
you and you team are AMAZING.....love you David
Posted by: Migguel Anggelo | October 20, 2010 at 11:09 AM
AMAZING!!!!! Miss you DSI!!!
xoxoxoxox Melissa
Posted by: melissa gamwell | October 20, 2010 at 03:05 PM
Stunning!!!
xoxopepe
Posted by: Pepe Villegas | October 21, 2010 at 09:49 AM
I am continually amazed at your creativity, David.
I love the hanging flowers in the brass pots. Like the pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Aunt Teresa
Posted by: Teresa | October 27, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Thanks for the kind words, guys. We have a lot more to share from this crazy season. Keep the thoughts a-comin'.
xo
D.
Posted by: David Stark | October 27, 2010 at 12:05 PM