So after the Texas Ballet Theater season announcement yesterday, Stephen and I took a quick tour of the Winspear Opera House.  Still a hard-hat zone, but definitely looking like a theater. The seats are still in boxes on the stage – they go in next week;  the walls are being painted chocolate brown; gold leaf decoration is being applied; the red glass that you see at the top of the building from the street is still being hung inside, closer to the lobby floor.

One interesting difference between the Wyly and the Winspear is the technology backstage.  Brian Broom, left, who’s in charge of keeping the all the construction trains running on time at the Winspear  explained that the Winspear is more traditional, with battens that lift and lower scenery controlled by a counterweights.  The Wyly is super hi-tech. (More on that soon.)

Brian was nice enough to share this shot  he took recently. To take it, he lay down in the orchestra pit and looked up toward the ceiling. If you squint, you can see the little holes in the ceiling – each will be filled with individual lighting tubes that will raise and lower, comprising the house chandelier.

We may get a few more pix from the folks at the DCPA. If we do, we’ll post them.