Resonating with THE AUDIENCE

Those little chimes that say 'Please take your seat'

- MICHAELA TOWFIGHI VINCENT ALBAN

It could be a light flicker, an announcement over a loudspeaker or a nudge from an usher.

But to herd New York audiences to their seats at the Metropolitan Opera, Carmela Palumbo opts for an arpeggio of A, C, E notes as she weaves through the lobby.

At the New York City Ballet, America Borda also plays a short tune on a dinner chime that rings through the David H. Koch Theater. At Carnegie Hall, Hampus Svard carefully removes a dinner chime from a cupboard and plays alternating high and low notes. And at New York City Center, Jason White paces the long lobby hallway as he hits four notes on a marimba.

At New York's performing arts venues, the melodies remain steady and the message is simple: Please take your seats.

Palumbo, the head ticket taker at the Met, follows a complicated route during her rounds, scouring every corner of the building with her abridged glockenspiel (not to be confused with a xylophone, its counterpart with wooden bars).

The first note echoes as she stands in the main lobby under the starburst chandeliers. Palumbo then moves on to the north and south TV lounges of the opera house, stopping on the stairs, before heading down them, with a pass by the checkroom, a stop directly into the women's bathroom and a pause just outside the men's. Back up the stairs, she circles the box office, gift shop and takes a lap outside to catch any patrons on the plaza.