THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MUSEUM
We are about to see some heritage.
Welcome to The World's Biggest Museum, we're at the Bastille Opera House.
In 1982, the new government decides to build
a new, giant, modern and popular opera house in Paris
with a 3,000 capacity for the Parisians, for the French:
the Bastille Opera House.
Within 4 months,
750 anonymous architectural projects converge in Paris.
They’re studied in detail and one of them
seems to bear all the hallmarks of a great American architect, Meyer.
This is the winning project, but Meyer is not the architect.
It’s an unknown Canadian architect of Uruguayan origin.
He’s 37 years old and his name is Carlos Ott.
Here is Carlos Ott’s project that was inaugurated 7 years later in 1989.
So, let’s go visit the Bastille Opera House.
This is lamé.
What characterizes
the Bastille Opera House, is the space
and the automatic doors. Look at these automatic doors!
There'll always be people who think that the Garnier Opera House has more charm.
It might be true, but here, there’s a fantastic amount of space.
Let’s go see where they make wigs and where the artists are made up.
Here it is. Let’s go!
Hello, Mylène. - Hello.
What are you doing? - Implanting hair into tulle...
DEPUTY HEAD OF WIGS AND MAKE-UP
...to make a wig. - OK.
But the tulle is really fragile. - Very much so.
Is it used every night?
Yes. This wig can last 20 to 30 years.
Can you find hair easily? Because you must use a lot of it.
We find Indian and Asian hair, but it's a bit difficult to work with.
How much does it cost? - Around 1,500 euros.
1,500? - 1,500 per kilo.
How many of you work in the workshop? - Around 15 of us.
Some working on The Tales of Hoffmann others on The Jewess
and others on Don Quixote, which is about to start.
So, here you transform. You transform hair or apply make-up
and, when it's required, you create special effects like scars?
Yes, sometimes we create scars, false noses and false skulls.
You could be earning a lot of money in plastic surgery.
TO TRY IN THE DRESSING ROOM
Ladies and gents, this is Marie. Marie hasn’t been here for long.
Am I right? - Yes, it’s only been two days.
What's it like to be part of something as prestigious as the Bastille Opera House?
WIG MAKER
It's easier to provide quality when you work in a cocoon of quality,
a breeding ground for work.
A hotbed of talent. - Exactly.
Hello, Cathy. - Hello.
What are you working on? - A wig for one of our soloists.
WIG MAKER AND MAKE-UP ARTIST
The wig is very long and is made out of natural hair.
This is naturally blonde hair? - Yes.
I’m adding synthetic gold fiber to it.
When the artists are actually performing in shows,
do they think of you, or is it not at all rewarding
for those people doing the preparations?
Generally, we and the costume makers
are the last people
to deal with them.
They're deep in thought before their scenes.
It's not the best moment to say: "The wig is fantastic!"
No, not at all.
Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce Laure who is a milliner.
Milliners make hats. - Exactly.
And these are extraordinary. They were worn in Lulu.
Yes. The show was created in 1998.
Do you have a creator who designs them?
The costume maker who makes the costumes also creates the hats.
MILLINER
And we create a prototype from the model.
This one is incredible, what's it for? - The Magic Flute.
And the costume designer was Kenzo.
So, Kenzo designed the hats? - Yes, only for The Magic Flute.
Do you often work with famous designers? - No.
He was probably an opera fan and wanted to do it.
This is pretty. - It's the Queen of the Night's hat.
Yes, The Magic Flute again. It’s extraordinary and signed by Kenzo.
The green, the orange and the purple hats are for the three ladies.
It's very pretty, really superb.
Plus, it's very interesting work and new to us.
We don't usually use horsehair on the structure.
We usually work with felt and straw.
So, it's really interesting for us.
What's the corde à piano? - It’s the metal structure.
So, that's called the corde à piano. - Yes.
Thanks, Laure.
I can certify that you are passionate about it.
Goodbye. - Bye.
Mr. Mortier, thanks for welcoming me to the Bastille Opera House.
We're on the 8th floor of the building with a fantastic view of Paris.
And there are lots of levels and floors.
Yes, there are eight floors above and six below.
In 1982, a year after entering office, François Mitterrand
signs a strong political act authorizing the creation of the Bastille Opera House.
Well, it's very strange. Many opera amateurs, me included,...
DIRECTOR OF THE PARIS OPERA
...thought he’d gone mad.
Today, we realize it was a visionary and avant-garde idea
because that decision made Paris
the world's leading city of opera.
We could say that the Bastille Opera House
is the highest performing of all modern opera houses.
I love this building,
maybe not for the architecture, but for the way it operates.
It's auditorium makes it a very popular opera house, like Mitterrand wanted.
Our opera house has 2,800 seats
and 1,400 of them cost less than 60 euros.
Some seats even start at 25 euros and standing room is 5 euros.
At Garnier, if you don't pay enough,
you don't have a good view of the stage,
but here, when you pay 20 euros, you have a bird's-eye view.
You sound a bit less enthusiastic about the architecture,
but this opera house is still an architectural testimony to the 80s.
I think it’s very important to have a building which operates very well
and it's still a testimony to a certain outdated taste
with its big outside stairway which is never used
and something almost resembling the Arc de Triomphe.
The most fascinating thing is the inside of the venue.
How about the netting on the facade?
There was a construction error and the Opera House sued.
My predecessor, Mr. Hugues Gall, started the process and we won.
We'll soon start redoing the stonework.
It's very expensive. It costs 10 million euros.
We and the architect have come up with a very good solution
and I hope that before I leave here, two years from now,
all the netting will be gone.
Thank you very much for answering my questions.
Now we're headed backstage to the costumes.
There's so much work going on here.
Are they male and female seamstresses? - Yes.
And male and female costume makers, too.
How many people are here? - 60 right now.
SEWING WORKSHOP MANAGER
Twenty people work permanently in the sewing workshops.
So, that's where you work on costumes
for future productions.
You're not there to mend frayed skirts, but to create.
We make the costumes and alter costumes that we buy
for productions we're working on for next year.
Sometimes the contemporary creations have a second-hand vibe.
Do you make them? - We do both.
For Louise, for example, we need to work with second-hand clothes
like the costumes behind you.
These? - Yes, those.
But we also need to make certain elements for this production.
It's just as interesting to work on contemporary costumes as historical ones.
I won't say it has a high-tech side, as I know you won't like that word,
but there's a fairly professional side. Like an architect’s workshop.
That’s because of the building.
If you’ve seen the Garnier workshops,
the decor is different
but the concentration and conscientiousness is the same.
But, it's true that we have false ceilings and neon lights.
Bernadette’s scissors are no laughing matter!
When will this dress be ready? Do you still have several days of work?
It’s almost ready, I just need to finish off the sleeves and collars.
It'll take two or three days...
COSTUME MAKER, 2ND WORKSHOP
...from the moment it's cut out and put on the tables for assembly.
Thank you. Here’s the material for a dress which we'll soon see.
It's for a performance of Louise.
They're small 1940's style cotton dresses.
They're very flowing and enjoyable to make.
Thank you, Bernadette. - My pleasure.
Modern opera does not necessarily mean removing boxes and balconies.
It’s incredible and fascinating because we're in an auditorium
with remarkable acoustics that are the envy of the world.
The height both on and under the stage is remarkable.
The 45 meters make it possible to develop immense scenery,
something that can't be done anywhere. That's the Bastille Opera's singularity.
Hello, Alexander. - Hello.
You're the Head of Casting.
These days, you only hear job titles like that on reality TV.
What does it mean here?
We hire all the singers,
and distribute all the roles...
HEAD OF CASTING
...for the 20 productions that we put on each season.
Do you go everywhere to check out who they are and how good they are?
Firstly, there are people we know, famous people whom we like to work with,
we select people in auditions
or I go elsewhere to listen to them, watch the shows and then choose them.
You're German and have been working at the Bastille Opera House for 3 years,
how does it compete on a global scale?
It’s one of the best opera houses in the world. It's first rate.
It's on a par with the opera houses in Vienna and London
and the Met in New York. It’s one of the very best.
Tell me, a layman, all about this venue.
It's a modern venue
which I personally like a lot because it has excellent acoustics.
It’s not difficult for singers to sing here,
even if, at first, they get stage fright on seeing the size of the place.
For a European opera house, 2,700 seats is very big.
Usually 2,000 is the maximum.
We have someone waiting for us in his dressing room.
Let’s go see Mr. Villazón.
It would be nice for our viewers who don’t necessarily know him very well,
if you could introduce him to us.
He’s currently one of the world's most famous and significant tenors.
We love working with him. He's very warm and pleasant.
He's a great singer, but also an artist.
Thank you very much. I can hear how passionate you are about him.
SOLOIST DRESSING ROOM - GARDEN
Mr. Villazón, hello. - Hello.
How do you prepare just before the show? - We fight against stage fright.
TENOR
No, we do vocal exercises with the help of the piano.
We study the score. Me, for example,
I pay attention to all the details of the French language, of course,
because, for me, it's the most difficult language
to sing in. - Really?
Why is French the most difficult language to sing in?
Because it's full of sounds and all these different vowels.
Especially for a Mexican. We only have the five vowels.
Then you have to add all the extra French vowel sounds
You have a privileged relationship with this extraordinary place.
Tell me about it.
It’s magnificent. It was the first great opera house
to open its doors to me.
It was in 2000 when I was singing La Traviata.
I was replacing another great Mexican tenor, Ramón Vargas.
What are Parisian audiences like? Are audiences the same worldwide?
No, they're not the same at all. I love French audiences
because I believe
that if you're successful in Paris, you’ve really deserved it.
They’re demanding, but not in a ridiculous way.
I'm not talking about other places, but people can say to you:
"No, you need to sing like this or that or we won’t applaud."
They're not know-it-alls.
Beauty is part of French culture. French people are surrounded by beauty.
This has an extraordinary specialty:
this big, modern auditorium.
I love the building and the fact that it's so modern
and I also like being in Paris, in France.
You haven't got stuck in the great tradition of your past,
the great architecture, literature or paintings of the past, etc.
But it carries on and reinvents itself and Bastille Opera House is a good example.
The acoustics here are extraordinary. I love singing here.
Do you seriously still get stage fright? - Absolutely.
And I hope to have it all my life. What would you do without it?
You need to transform stage fright into energy, adrenaline and emotion
and then throw yourself onto the stage and share that with the audience
and get the same thing back from them. They need to have a little stage fright
and feel on edge. If the two come together,
then it's like a volcano, like fire!
Thank you, Rolando Villazón. - Thanks, bye.
I'll explain the difference between modern and traditional opera.
This is the curtain. The auditorium is behind it.
And this is the stage which measures about 750 square meters.
In the Bastille Opera House, there's a huge space around the stage.
The area around me is eight times the size of the stage.
It allows them to store scenery from other productions
or create rehearsal space.
That's a modern opera house for you!
It's a huge space dedicated to putting on shows.
We're in the Bastille sculpture workshop and, right before your eyes,
people are sculpting and shaping the ground for a future production.
Another astonishing and unique place here
is the super gigantic shoemaker's workshop.
It's where the artists’ shoes are made. Let's go!
This opera house makes me think of discovering opera...
MANAGER OF SHOE AND LEATHER ACCESSORIES WORKSHOP
and a new building, as I started as soon as it opened in 1989, 1990.
Opera was a bit far removed for me. It was a huge discovery.
I started with costumes and moved onto shoes
because I had both qualifications.
I also work for the Garnier Opera House.
While the artists are preparing here, I'm at Garnier for the final rehearsals.
There are probably at least 10,000 to 15,000 pairs of shoes.
I can't supply all the opera houses alone,
so I have a temp working with me.
She helps me a lot with all the different operas we have.
These little golden boots are for the next opera.
I'll compensate here by removing the heel so that it doesn't get caught.
One of the problems is ensuring that they are comfortable.
While they're singing, they must forget about their feet.
There was a soloist in The Trojans who'd broken her foot.
I gave her one size 7.5 shoe and one size 8.
She was a woman of beautiful stature
but she performed in two different shoe sizes post-surgery
and the only thing she ever said, was how comfortable she was.
That makes us feel happy because that's what we're here for.
When we put shoes on people, it's normal that we lick their boots!
This is Jean-Luc Martineau
who is in charge of this huge painting and decorating workshop here.
Hello, Jean-Luc. - Hello.
What are they doing?
They're preparing a canvas for the Dance School.
The canvas will be combined with a tulle which was painted at the same time.
It's a classic technique using pigments.
PAINTING AND DECORATING WORKSHOP MANAGER
You can see they're using a mixed technique,
painting with spray guns and brushes.
How big is the canvas? - 12 meters by 19 meters.
It's about the same size as the stage canvases,
between 200 and 300 square meters.
It represents a landscape, Vesuvius.
It's called "Napoli." Vesuvius is in the background.
The sky will take on different visual aspects on the tulle and the canvas.
Jean-Luc, where are the colors, the tones prepared?
The tones are prepared in a specific room that we call the Sorbonne.
It houses various paints manufactured by our suppliers,
but also the pigments that we prepare ourselves.
What is this big black tarpaulin?
It's a piece of scenery for
Proust ou les intermittences du cœur, a ballet choreographed by Roland Petit.
We hope he'll be happy with the esthetics.
The black tarpaulin gives a uniform background
allowing us to interpret how the plates are put together and how they move.
We've used the two projectors on the orange rolling bridge.
The two projectors attached to the orange bridge.
The projectors can project a five meter square image on the ground
without distorting it.
Thank you, Jean-Luc. - My pleasure.
Thanks for your time. - Goodbye.
We're in one of the most fascinating areas of Bastille Opera House.
These huge hangars are used to prepare scenery like this piece behind me.
These hangars are 27 meters
under the Opera House's stage. It's very impressive.
Once they’re finished, staff slide them up to the metallic door
and, behind this metallic door, is probably
the largest elevator in France, Europe or even the world,
a huge elevator that allows you to go up 27 meters
onto center stage with the scenery made here.
Welcome to gun heaven, 16 meters below ground floor level.
I'm with Christian Ruiz on Floor -6 in the armory
and you're the head gunsmith. - Accessories, weapons, special effects.
HEAD OF ACCESSORIES
So, it's full of replicas here but not only replicas.
No, we also have real weapons.
The firearms have been demilitarized but there are real period swords.
I know what this is. It's a Kalashnikov. - It's notorious.
It's the most popular weapon in the world.
And this is an Israeli Uzi? - Yes, it is.
But we're at the opera house, not the cinema.
Yes, but since Mr. Mortier arrived, we're have a more contemporary approach
with automatics weapons rather than halberds.
That's also a lot of work and it's also very interesting.
This is Spanish and from the 17th century or 18th century.
It's from the period covering both centuries.
These swords are never unsheathed so there's no point paying for them,
so we made a lot of replicas.
Bows and cross-bows everywhere
and then, this very chic item
is the new tunic which will be all the rage this winter.
It's classical chain mail which is used over and over again.
We buy it at the butcher's where they use it to protect against knife injuries.
And we insert it where we are told,
on a jacket or a glove.
The butchers’ union will love that! See what we do with your chain mail!
A bit of nonsense to amuse the public.
And then, there are other fake weapons like this dagger.
It's incredible. There's a little button here
and when the singer pushes it, what happens?
Well, it’s a capsule filled with fake blood
which runs through the holes here,
so that when he pretends to slit somebody’s throat,
he presses it and the blood comes out.
When you press down, it leaves a trace and runs down here to look real.
Scar my arm, my handsome pirate!
That was maybe too much?
Ultimately, you have the most thrilling job
of the 1,700 employees of the Bastille Opera House.
Do you have fun every day? - Yes, it's an interesting job.
Each opera is practically a prototype. It’s very interesting.
Thanks. - Thanks.
What should we remember about this place?
Firstly, its huge size. Sometimes, it's a 20 minute walk
to go from one workshop to the main stage, for example.
And then the 800,000 visitors per year.
This huge venue with almost 2,800 seats,
which is full for every performance.
And on that point, we need to thank President Mitterrand,
because his daring gamble of the early 80s,
to create a large, modern opera house in Paris, was a success.
See you next week.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be