< Previous20 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYThe Grand 1894 Opera House has weathered a few storms since its inception, including the 1900 Storm and hurricanes Carla, Alicia and Ike.While the theater always has recovered in whole, it has lost some important parts.In September 2008, when Hurricane Ike inundated “The Official Opera House of Texas” with more than 10 feet of water and caused more than $6 million in damage, The Grand’s shining treasure since 1982, a 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand Piano, was irrepa-rably damaged.But while Ike silenced the Steinway’s voice, its spirit lives on thanks to the work of a metal artist John Weber.Weber and Maureen Patton, executive director of the theater, came up with a plan to salvage the Steinway, which is now a “conversation” piece in The Grand’s conference room.“John is an integral part of The Grand’s restoration,” Patton said. “It’s important to us that he receives all the credit for not only salvaging the harp of the piano, but he’s also helped us with other projects that our patrons get to enjoy today.”SILENCED STEINWAY STILL TELLING STORIES ABOUT THE GRANDSTORY BY ANGELA WILSON PHOTOS BY JENNIFER REYNOLDS THE DAILY NEWSPLAYINGADIFFERENTTUNE(Opposite) Maureen Patton, executive director of The Grand 1894 Opera House, sits at the conference room table, which is made from the frame of the venue’s Hurricane Ike-damaged Steinway Concert Grand piano.COURTESY THE DAILY NEWS 21Weber was able to restore the 400-pound cast iron harp, the bones of the piano, which was badly corroded and scratched, into a beautiful con-ference table topped with a sheet of beveled glass almost an inch thick and weighing 600 pounds.The project was completed and the massive table installed in 2010.“This was no small feat, moving the finished product into our building,” said Virginia Weber, John’s wife who works at The Grand. “This project is one my husband is very proud of, and so am I. It’ll be here forever.”The piano was originally bought during an estate sale with money do-nated by John W. Wilkinson, and his wife, Patton said. A plaque reflecting their support also is attached to the conference table.“My goal was to always show grat-itude toward the Wilkinsons for their generous gift, as well as to John Weber for his role,” Patton said. “John’s cre-ative vision has allowed us to keep this piece of our history alive.” (Above) Plaques give the history of The Grand’s one-of-a-kind conference room table. (Left) Legs made from a salvaged fence and topped with metal leaves support the 400-pound cast-iron Steinway piano harp and the 600-pound beveled glass top.Performers, from Liza Minnelli and B.B. King to Chubby Checker and Carol Burnett, have left their signatures and messages on the lid of the Hurricane Ike-damaged grand piano that hangs backstage at The Grand.22 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYThe Grand 1894 Opera House is the Heart and Soul of Galveston’s Arts and Entertainment District. It has been an honor being your neighbor for the last 23 years! Thank you for allowing us to be the caterer to the stars. Cheers to 125 years and here’s to 125 more!! -Paco Vargas & Family409-762-36962102 Postoffice St., Ste. A Galveston, TX 77551 409-762-2101The Grand 1894 Opera House is the Heart and Soul of Galveston’s Arts and Entertainment District. It has been an honor being your neighbor for the last 23 years! Thank you for allowing us to be the caterer to the stars. Cheers to 125 years and here’s to 125 more!! -Paco Vargas & Family2028 Postoffice St. Galveston, TX 77551 409-762-36962102 Postoffice St., Ste. A Galveston, TX 77551 409-762-21012028 Postoffice St. Galveston, TX 77551409-762-36962102 Postoffice St., Ste. A Galveston, TX 77551409-762-2101 THE DAILY NEWS 23BEHINDTHECURTAIN24 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYBACKSTAGE MAGIC MAKES FOR SEAMLESS VISION ONSTAGESTORY BY KATHRYN EASTBURN | PHOTOS BY JENNIFER REYNOLDS | THE DAILY NEWSEach time a show goes up at The Grand 1894 Opera House, a bit of magical sleight of hand is performed.“Our goal is to make sure nobody knows we’re back there,” stage manager Jeff Pye said.Pye oversees all the activities backstage necessary to create the illusion of a seamless per-formance in a magically endowed space. Hidden behind heavy curtains from the audience out front, the backstage crew engages in what Pye referred to as controlled chaos.“You know whether you’re gonna like this backstage work the first time you do it,” Pye said. “You either hate it or you love it.“In this job, having a relationship with chaos is a good thing.”URTAINThe stage of The Grand 1894 Opera House is filled with equip-ment as crews begin setting up for the musical “Kinky Boots.” THE DAILY NEWS 25The Grand generally functions as a road house; traveling shows come through with their own sets piled into trucks and loaded off a back deck through large bay doors into the backstage area of the theater. As stage manag-er, Pye’s job is to meet the technical crew of the traveling show and ensure it has what its needs to set up the stage.Some shows are bigger than others.“’Kinky Boots’ had three trucks,” Pye said.On occasion, when a show debuts at The Grand, Pye and his crew are responsible for building scenery from scratch, as they did with the Texas-based “Tuna” shows.But the scenery is just one aspect of back-stage activity. Sometimes, there are upward of 60 people working in different departments to make a show appear magically seamless.The wardrobe department includes seam-stresses doing repairs or constructing cos-tumes, ironing traveling show costumes, doing hair and makeup for the actors and organizing gondolas or rolling closets filled with clothes that must be cleaned and in good repair. Wardrobe workers are also responsible during the show for having changes of cos-tume ready and assisting with changes.The audio department is responsible for all amplification of voices and special effects as well as making sure actors on stage can hear everything that’s going on. Audio and lighting are managed by technicians offstage in anoth-er part of the theater.The props department handles a long list of details, Pye said.“They take care of anything on stage an actor plays to an audience with, everything that’s brought onstage by hand,” he said. That (Below) Crews unload cases of equipment, props and wardrobes for a production of “Kinky Boots” at The Grand. The traveling show had three trucks carrying everything necessary for the performance. (Right) Stage crews set up a lighting truss. Some shows require upward of 60 people in different departments to put on a production.could be anything from a pair of glasses to a poodle.In addition, at The Grand, the props crew is responsible for the hospitality table, keeping coffee flowing and snacks ready for everyone else.“We’re known for serving Donut Palace ko-laches,” Pye said. “We’ve been serving them for 35 years. When I’m talking with an incom-26 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYing tech crew, I always get asked: Are y’all gonna have those kolaches?”Props crews also clean the stage, making sure the overall presentation of the stage is absent of anything distracting, like an errant dust bunny.The carpentry crew works from the top down, suspending backdrops from ropes high above the stage, weighted by pipes. The Grand maintains a manual ropes system that practically nobody has any more, Pye said, with pulleys and ropes that lift 400 pounds or more up, then suspend it with the counter-weight of sandbags.Carpentry also is responsible for the soft masking or all the curtains surrounding the stage to keep people onstage within sight lines and everything backstage out of sight.In between shows, stage hands have to oc-casionally refinish the stage, sanding and pol-ishing it and look for unsightly tears or stains on the soft masking.The Grand has four full-time backstage em-ployees, including Pye, who sometimes put in a 90-hour week to see that the show goes on.“Most of the time it flows like a river,” he said. THE DAILY NEWS 27LIFE OF PYEFOURTH-GENERATION STAGE MANAGER CONTINUES A FAMILY TRADITIONBY KATHRYN EASTBURN | THE DAILY NEWSJeff Pye, stage manager at The Grand 1894 Opera House, has guided backstage activity since 2001 when his predecessor, Bill Lindstrom, died. But Pye’s history at The Grand stretches all the way back to 1895 when his great-grandfather worked on the crew that built the Galveston landmark.The sparkling new theater, originally built as a grand hotel and performance space, prospered for its first five years, with Ebenezer “Ed” Pye guiding backstage activity at the bustling venue. Then came the 1900 Storm.The theater was rebuilt and reopened in October 1901, barely more than a year after it was profoundly damaged by the hurricane.The theater changed over the next decades, becoming a vaudeville venue in the 1920s and throughout the ’30s and ’40s, aimed more at mass audiences than elite theater- and opera-going crowds.Jeff Pye’s grandfather followed in Ed’s footsteps, serving as The Grand’s head carpenter — responsible for all stage construction and mechanics — while Ed Pye remained stage manager.Eventually, most people working in theaters during that era had to become motion picture machine operators and the Pyes were no exceptions.“Theaters like The Grand became movie houses more often than not,” Jeff Pye said.Jeff Pye, technical director and stage manager at The Grand 1894 Opera House, is the fourth generation to work backstage at the Galveston landmark. His great-grandfa-ther worked on the crew that built the theater. 28 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYJENNIFER REYNOLDS | THE DAILY NEWS THE DAILY NEWS 29Next >