Double Your Pleasure?

For a moment there I thought I had a double adventure in store, until common sense took over. And by took over I mean, it grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me and said, "Are you MAD woman?" before knocking itself into me.

I got the Collegiate Chorale's brochure in the mail today. In the listing for Grapes of Wrath it notes that there's an open rehearsal on a specific date in February. The date sounded so familiar. Why? Because, what do you know, I'm going to NYC that day to see La Fille. Hm, I thought. An open rehearsal. It starts at 6:30 in Midtown. Could I possibly hit some of that and still make it to the Met for an 8:00 curtain? I'm just crazy enough to try it... I'm ashamed enough to admit I did a google map thing to see how far of a walk it was... but just to be sure it would be, you know, worth my while, I checked another schedule and saw that the main attraction has performances somewhere in another time zone the day before and two days after the date of that open rehearsal. It's highly unlikely that he'd fly out to NYC for one rehearsal for a concert staging of an opera that they'll probably have the music onstage for. Right? So this is most likely just the Chorale rehearsal that's open. So, as tempting as it may be to slip in to the locale listed on the brochure, you know, just for a peek, I don't think I will. Instead I'll enjoy where ever we end up for dinner before La Fille with whatever interesting martini-esque drinks I choose to sip before seeing Juan Diego Florez from way up in the front row of the nosebleed section.

So. Two years ago I planned to see JDF and NG in the very same performance but instead ended up seeing them in different things about 2 weeks apart. Then this year I saw them a day apart... and for 2010 I'm planning on seeing them a month apart... but can you just imagine seeing them in different performances (ok one would be a rehearsal...but still...) on the same day? Nope. Not gonna happen. Even if it could, it won't. That fleeting thought has fled... straight to a martini glass.

Peel Me a Grape

Found out about this today:

OPERA-IN-CONCERT / AMERICAN MASTERS
The Grapes of Wrath, at Carnegie Hall
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 8pm
Music by Ricky Ian Gordon
Libretto by Michael Korie

featuring
Jane Fonda, Narrator
Nathan Gunn - Tom Joad
Victoria Clark - Ma Joad
Elizabeth Futral - Rosasharn
Anthony Dean Griffey - Jim Casy
Peter Halverson - Pa Joad
Stephen Powell - Uncle John
Andrew Wilkowske - Noah
Steven Pasquale - Al
Christine Ebersole - Mae/Waitress
Matthew Worth - Ragged Man/Connie Rivers/Truck Driver
Madeline Gunn - Ruthie
The American Symphony Orchestra
Ted Sperling, Conductor

So. Jane Fonda. Will she be wearing leg-warmers? Or else I wonder if, as narrator, they'll have her dressed in this outfit. Right. What's wrong with me? The woman is an accomplished actor, political activist and fitness buff, yet whenever I see her name I think of this, which is strange considering I've never actually seen that movie.

Anyhoo, I went and got myself a ticket. Pretty good seat too. So. Looks like we have a full winter/spring of adventure - Elizabeth Caballero, Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau, Nathan Gunn and Nathan Gunn again. All that and only one trip backstage. Go figure.

Guess I should read the book and maybe see the movie before March. March! My annual "see Nathan Gunn" month. No, dear reader, I will NOT be attempting any face-to-face hellos this time around. But maybe March of 2011...