The Chandelier

The chandelier shook - gently at first, then harder and harder and harder - until it finally began to fall; slow, dreamlike, it swung above my head and crashed onto the stage in front of the actors.
I can remember it vividly even though this occurred almost 5 years ago and on another continent.
My family was in London on vacation for a week and a half (which wasn't nearly enough time to do what we wanted), and on one night we decided we wanted to go see The Phantom of the Opera at the Queen's Theater. I don't think I had seen a major production of anything before, so I was very excited. I had no idea what to expect, and we took our seats in the very center, maybe six rows from the pit. When the chandelier first came to life and rose from the stage, I was like "wow that's cool, we're traveling back in time to the period of the story". I didn't know that it would serve a later purpose. At first I had no idea what was going on - the Phantom was yelling, people started screaming, and I looked up. The chandelier fell right on top of us, but swung away to the stage at the last second. As the first act closed with an apology from Messieurs Andre et Firmin, I didn't really know what to think. A seemingly inconsequential piece of decorative scenery (that didn't look like it was scenery but a part of the theater) just fell onto the stage! In front of my eyes! What the hell?
Looking back, I think that the chandelier is one of the most impressive pieces of scenery I have ever seen - not that it looked anything special, but for its function. For someone who sees this production for the first time and has no idea about the chandelier's function, this action is a complete surprise. Yet, the set item is there (almost) the entire time - it's brilliant! People take the theater space that is not the stage for granted; they don't think that something will happen outside the stage area because it's uncommon (at least, it was uncommon). But to have this piece of scenery that everyone already knows about and has forgotten about suddenly come crashing to the stage creates such a heightened sense of fear and dramatic action - because suddenly the viewing space is no longer safe. Anything could happen. I remember that during the intermission these "workers" came out onto the stage to fix the chandelier and send it back up. Needless to say, I was very much aware of its presence for the rest of the show The chandelier is a real anchoring point for the entire show - it takes us from the "present" to the past story and then back to the present. It also helps set the mood during the show - its rising in the beginning is fairly creepy and unsettling, but then it fades into the background only to come back when it is least expected.
Here is a video of the chandelier in action: