VISTA -- The old theater adage "break a leg" was sometimes way too close to reality on the old Moonlight Amphitheatre stage.

Ray Raub, a longtime patron of the popular venue at Vista's Brengle Terrace Park, remembers the time several years ago when an actor broke his ankle backstage stepping through plywood.

"These are the kinds of things the theater won't have to worry about anymore," Raub said. "This is a new era."

That era has been launched by the completion of a 12,000-square-foot stage house that virtually reinvents the outdoor theater and its theatrical capabilities. The stage house includes a vertical fly loft and new, automated rigging, along with new dressing, rehearsal and storage rooms, a 9-foot-deep orchestra pit and an extended sound and lighting canopy.

The stage house is accompanied by other improvements, including a new south entrance and box office, additional restrooms, more picnic tables and better sightlines from a newly landscaped upper lawn.

The $11.5 million project -- funded by a voter-approved sales tax increase and a $675,000 capital fundraising effort by the Moonlight Cultural Foundation -- is now complete, in time for the Moonlight's summer season, which opens July 15 with the show "42nd Street."

It's a far cry from the theater's beginnings in 1981, when shows were performed on a barely raised stage in front of the grassy slope.

While there have been many improvements since, including the installation of permanent seating and a restaurant and concession stand, the addition of the stage house means a dramatic effect on the productions themselves.

Set pieces can now "fly" into the rafters during scene changes -- a common necessity for musical theater -- and the curtain can rise from the ground up, where as before it was pulled from side to side.

"There are so many elements that enhance the experience for the actors and audience, it's difficult to name one that stands out above any other," said Kathy Brombacher, the Moonlight's artistic director and one of the venue's founders.

"For the tech crews and designers, they now have a place to work that's civilized," she said. "And the building is so carefully designed. The canopy in itself is an exquisite piece of design. And we have finally conquered the challenges of amplifying outdoor sound."

In past seasons, construction crews and others built sets and worked under the hot sun in the summer. Actors made do with facilities that were less than stellar.

"In the old days, we would hang costumes in trees during the show and put on makeup outdoors in the dark using very little light," Brombacher recalled. "We always did the best we could, but now we have this covering for the workers and fully enclosed dressing rooms for the actors. After 29 years, we have a roof over our heads."

The addition of the stage house also means more potential productions for the venue in the form of rentals from other theatrical troupes, music concerts and dance groups. The stage house also converts to a small enclosed space when needed.

"We can do smaller indoor shows in the winter and find other creative uses for the stage," Brombacher said. "We'll also be able to expand our thinking on what shows we will do in the summer, as the technical improvements mean more capabilities.

"Too many times, we knew we couldn't do certain shows because of various reasons," she added. "That won't happen now. We look at this new stage house and think of it as something close to a small miracle."

Patrons are equally impressed.

"I saw the completed stage house a few weeks ago and went in with high expectations," Raub said. "What I saw exceeded my wildest dreams. This was money remarkably well spent. The people of North County have something wonderful and exciting to enjoy."

In addition to "42nd Street," the Moonlight's summer season will feature "Phantom: The American Musical Sensation" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats." Each production runs three weeks.

For tickets, visit vistixonline.com or call 760-724-2110.