Get that moon metaphor out my face, says Juliet, and we totally understand the wisdom of it. A huge creamy moon hovers over most of the sets of Lucia di Lammermoor, a production designed by Graham Vick, which had its premiere last night at the SF Opera, and which you can see for free at the ball park this Friday; it's a big round placid disk, which moves slowly above the singers. It appears at the entrance of Lucia, on a barren plain with low purple-ish bushes and a single, wind-bent tree which makes a silouhette trying to reach for the moon. Oooh, symbolism! At this point, we know the moon will be back for The Mad Scene, the high point of Lucia. See? The full moon as the cause for temporary insanity, you know, dogs howling at the moon, girls getting cranky. The world lunatic derives from luna, moon in latin. We were warned that it's a common trope amongst Lucia set designers. What we did not expect: that we'd find a full moon again over the roofs of San Francisco, as we were going home on Valencia street. We're pretty sure it winked at us.

Photo credits: Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera. Above, Natalie Dessay, below Gabriele Viviani, then Giuseppe Filianoti