'On Stage' shows everything that must be done before the curtain can be lifted and the prepared decorations of an opera house can be seen on stage so that the performance can start. The words 'stage machinery' describe only very inadequately the interaction of hundreds of people in highly skilled occupations: the flies, sinking, props... 'On Stage' offers not only a glimpse behind the stage but also to mysterious places on, under and next to the stage, a preparatory drama that is as dramatic as the play itself. After 'Metamorphoses', 'Creation', 'Celebration', 'Close-up', 'Passion', 'Emotion and Glamour', 'On Stage' is the 8th volume in an encyclopaedic series about the Vienna Opera House, conceived to grow by one volume per year until 2019, when the opera house celebrates its 125th anniversary.