Opera Curtain

[SanTai]

I haven't been to that many operas, however I saw Tosca a while ago. They began and ended each act with a screen instead of the main curtain. It had written on it which act it was and the name of the house and of the opera. I have not been able too find any info about what it is or what it is called. Google found a picture for me: http://www.rudyalvarado.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/20111201-063600.jpg

Apparently the many in the design team were italian. So what is it? Is it traditional for Italian opera? Or is it that I am uneducated and have seen way too few operas and it is that is the usual way it is done on operas?
Does it have any special meaning or representation?

 

[MPowers]

The Curtain is show and production specific. It is what, in America, we call a "Show Curtain". It is designed and executed specifically for that production of that show. I'm not sure but the picture looks a little like the lettering is projected. Was the background the same steel frame look for each act? Could you tell if the curtain was in exactly the same place each time or was it in a slightly different place upstage or down stage?

 

[kiwitechgirl]

We're using a fan as the house curtain on Turandot, which we're running at the moment. Magic Flute, also in rep with it, has a show specific curtain, but Boheme, which we did last season, just used the regular house curtain. I think it totally depends on the designer and what they want.

 

[SanTai]

Thanks for the answers.

It was not projected. I am quite sure it was painted, so they have to have made three of those.

Is there any reason it looks like that? It kind of looks "inside out" if you get what I mean, with cross bracing downstage.

 

[MarshallPope]

It was merely a stylistic choice, I'm sure. My instinct is that the designer saw it as a literal fourth wall, as seen from the outside, that opened to reveal each act, but that is merely a guess.