Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 1-Ernani

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 16 Installation of the new machine had been substantially delayed by the pandemic, but proceeded with some urgency this past summer. The new lift system was built by Tait, a global manufacturing company headquartered in Lititz, Pennsylvania, renowned especially in the world of rock. (When the band Coldplay, for instance, has a show at Soldier Field, it deploys an enormous stage set built by Tait.) The new mechanism at Lyric is one of the largest lifts it has ever made. (Because it is not designed or rated to carry passengers, Smallwood prefers the term “material handling elevator” to describe it). While the actual 63,000-pound, 58-foot long platform the containers sit on remains from the original, the remarkable mechanics lowering it from street to stage level, and up to the enormous rehearsal room 200, are brand new. Known as a serapid chain, the lift consists of seven cassettes, full of what look like enormous bicycle chains. As the links (each about the size of a loaf of bread) are pushed out of the cassettes, they connect to the ones before and after them, forming rigid vertical columns. “Most trucks you see on the road are probably in the 70,000 pound range. Ours are usually only in the 20,000 to 30,000 pound range,” Smallwood says. Still, he had the new During the complex installation of the new lift, the 58,000-pound platform was suspended by chains. The truck entrance on Washington Street is at left, under the “W” banner.