So... exhausted...

Two rehearsals to write about. Utter exhaustion has set in.

Tuesday - Got a great parking spot. Ummm don't remember much more. Took notes, will do "real" post later.

Today - rehearsal was from 1 until 8:30. Yup, you heard it. We did have a sort of longish break for dinner and a couple of shorty breaks here and there.

Today's rehearsal was a tech run. That means it was our first time in the theater and on the stage. The rehearsal was to get all the staging fixed up since what fit in between the tape lines on the floor didn't necessarily work on the stage. We were there from 1 until about 4:30. Then Husband and Alex came into Princeton to meet me for dinner at Triumph. After dinner we went back to the theater and I showed them around backstage.

Elizabeth Caballero, who plays Violetta, has a YouTube page. I subscribed and put a comment on her page on Monday. So Tuesday when I walked in she said hello and confirmed it was I who left the comment. (aside: like my grammar? It was I...) Chatty chat, thanks for the comment, blah blah, etc and so on. Oh and, "Is that your daughter?" Umm... no. Ok fine the picture is teeny-tiny, I can see where gender identification could be difficult. Anyway today at the start of rehearsal we were all onstage and she stage-whispered from downstage, "Your son! He's so cute! I saw the videos of him singing!" and then later, when I was bringing him into the theater she was coming in and got all gushy on him. She was with someone whose name I should know and do know but I'm too tired to think... anyway she said, "You should hear him! He wants to be an opera singer! I heard him sing Papageno's aria! I'll have to send you the link on YouTube." Of course Alex refused to even make a sound at that point.

So after dinner we were called back for 7:15. I got there at about 6:45 when the principals were doing some staging. They were doing the last act, when Violetta is dying and Alfredo gets there just in time. At one point they were singing and she slipped in, "Am I singing the right words?" and later when she collapsed into Michael's arms for the death scene, she had a little too much momentum and down they both went. Another time he was laying her down but sort of let go too early and we all heard her head clonk on the floor. Actually I think that might have happened twice... So anyway at about 8:30 the supers had to go back onstage to close the doors to the ballroom. I think we did it twice. Then a half hour later we were released. Yes, I waited an hour and a half for 10 seconds of rehearsal. Isn't life in the theater exciting?

It's interesting to watch the chorus interact. Like last year, they drape all over each other. Although last year it seemed more out of affection and familiarity. This year it seems a little more steamy. There is a set of people who are always heavily flirting, hugging, touching... and the pairs seem to be interchangeable. Interesting, no? At one point I was sitting in the row in front listening to one guy relate a very intimate experience he once had to one of the women. Definitely far far Too Much Information. And now of course whenever I look at him this story pops into my head. That, and he's a winker. That's right. He winks. Like a friggin' grandfather. Ok, stop winking at me, you're what? 25?

Am about to fall asleep on the keyboard and I doubt anyone wants to read the jumble that my head would end up typing. On the other hand, who knows, maybe that would be my best blog entry ever.

So on a parting note, I'd like to direct everyone to the very insightful, clever and delightfully obnoxious blog of a self-labeled "random" chorus member. The blog is called, "Viva la Diva." Doesn't she have nice legs?