It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's... Super Supers!

Email received at 10:13 last night:

Dear R, K, K and Susan:

You guys are NOT needed on Friday. It will be more of a dance rehearsal for chorus and dancers.

From John, "The supers are doing great."

Sincerely,

M

Oh no! I was counting on that rehearsal for more fodder for the blog. Plus I know at least one of the dancers, not only from last year, but also because his little sister took voice lessons with my teacher in the time slot before me, so I used to sit in the hallway with her mom (and his, obviously) chatting before my lesson began, and she told me all sorts of stories about him. (Holy run-on sentence Batman!) I was looking forward to seeing him today. Perhaps Sunday.

So I wonder if John (the director) thought about saying, "The supers are doing super." True, it doesn't flow as well as "great," but still, for me, it would have been hard to resist.

Cat-pic Friday:

"Umm... I don't know?"

Wow. Before Camelot, I'd get one or two comments or questions a month regarding the Magic Flute videos on YouTube.

Then... Camelot. I put up a few videos and suddenly I'm getting all these emails from people asking me the strangest questions - like stuff about Nathan Gunn's personal life - or where he'll be performing - Umm... I don't know? And... I don't know? His personal life is, uh, personal? To him? And his professional life, meaning, his performance schedule, is on his professional website? I know if he's going to be performing somewhere where I could potentially attend... but that's pretty much it...

So here are some excerpts and parts of my replies:

Hi Susan,

I noticed you are one of the most distinguished fans of Nathan Gunn and opera in general. I am emailing you to ask if you know whether he is performing in New York in 2008. Apparently he is not in Met's 2008-2009 season.

Reply:

I don't know what Nathan's future schedule is. It's on his website, and sometimes he mentions in his journal what he's working on before it gets into the schedule section. Sometimes people hear things and post it to the board.

You can also look here: http://www.metmaniac.com/future.html to see some of the unofficial future met schedule.

***

I just Nathan Gunn's performance at Live at Lincoln Center
in "Camelot". What a voice.

Do you know if he ever comes to Houston, Texas? I was wondering how old he is? Does he have an e-mail address because I would like to tell him how much I enjoyed his singing as Lancelot in "Camelot".

Reply:

I would check his website - www.nathangunn.com. He has his schedule posted there, although it's not always up to date. But I do think he is going somewhere in Texas next year.
The best way to tell him how much you enjoyed Camelot would be to send him a MySpace message. He's in his mid 30's... 37 I think? Married, 5 kids.

As if I'd give out his email address? Or anyone's for that matter? And to tell the truth, I felt weird giving the marital status/kids info, even though that's all over the press. Can anyone say, Google search?

***

Hi,
I saw your upload of Nathan Gunn and Marin Mazzie in Camelot and was wondering if you had the complete recording of the performance. Please let me know.
Thanks.

***

I LOVE your clip of Nathan Gunn singing "C'est Moi!" I watched the whole opera on TV and really want to see it again, but I didn't tape it. Do you have the entire thing? If so, is there a way you could send it to me?

I told both of these people that I'd see if I could make a copy of the DVD. Many other people have posted comments under some of the videos asking if I could upload the entire thing. Umm... I don't like it enough to do that. I'd try to post all of Magic Flute though, if someone would only ask ...

***

I'd like to ask your vocal opinion about something Nathan Gunn is doing in "If Ever I Would Leave You." But I don't wish to make this a discussion at large as there are so many critics afoot.

I did exchange a few emails with that person about her concern, even though I don't feel qualified to have a vocal opinion on, well, anything. The "critic" reference was because one person was making nasty comments on that particular video, starting with "This sucks... are you people all unicorns?" Which made me laugh because who calls someone a unicorn as an insult? But the flurry of messages that followed was interesting.

And I saved my favorite one for last:

Lundriel,

Since you know all about NG, I am wondering about his wife and family. I know she is a musician. Do you know anything about her? Also, I am wondering how it works with all those kids, him often on the road and often appearing with half dressed, voluptuous women, plus all his female groupies. I would think that would give a marriage lots of huge challenges.

There are very few men who could keep their feet on the ground in his situation.

Whoa. Now this is someone with whom I've exchanged a few messages on YouTube, and I must admit that this message surprised the heck out of me. My reply:

Nathan's wife teaches at the University of Illinois. I met her once and she was very nice. I don't know what their personal life is like. I don't really think about it - everyone deserves their privacy, right? :)

Ok, for the record:

I do not know what Nathan Gunn's personal life is like. I don't know how he arranges childcare with his wife. I have no idea if appearing with half-dressed voluptuous women affects his marriage or his kids. I have no idea if he has groupies and if they throw themselves at him. (No I didn't and wouldn't.) Not only do I not know, I don't really care. It's none of my business. I do know that he is married with 5 kids because it's been published and he's said so in interviews. I know he's in his mid-30s because MySpace lists ages on profiles, and I've probably read it somewhere. Is it true that there are very few men who could keep their feet on the ground in this situation? And what does on the ground mean? That he's down to earth? Or hasn't lifted his feet from the ground to some floozy's bed? I met the guy for 5 or 10 minutes on two occasions. He seemed pretty down to earth each time... but what does that mean? In those 15-20 minutes, split between two events, I did not detect a bloated ego or a lascivious temperament. He maintained eye contact and did not do the bewb-glance while I was looking. He did squeeze me very tightly for the photo and I was sort of squished into him... is that scandalous? I don't think so... Would his wife mind? I have no idea. Some women care about that kind of thing, others don't. I wouldn't care if Husband squished some chick into him for a pic, as long as he came home with me that night and not her...

I'm reluctant to once again bring Real Life to my blog, but... I do have my own personal life with Husband and Child and the truth is I'm too tired to pay attention to the personal lives of people I don't know.

I don't mean to come across as harsh to these information seekers. But just because I posted a few videos to YouTube does not mean that I have the inside scoop to what side of the bed he sleeps on, and if he sleeps diagonally when he's alone in the bed.

However, if you ask nicely, I'll tell you if I do.

Bad review, Good Review, Nice Email, Can I Go Backstage?

NJ Opera Young Artist Program recital today. The truth is we stayed only for about half the program. On the way there, as usual, Alex asked or should I say demanded to hear Barbiere again, Una Voce Poco Fa. Ok, fine. Let's warm up our ears for the performance. Well funny thing is, the mezzo whose name I don't recall did that very aria. Her bio was in the program: prestigious schools, famous teachers, honors, contests, etc. Bottom line: I sing it better when I'm doing laundry, and I have none of the special training, background or experience. I wasn't going to say anything but then Husband brought it up. Why I sing it while doing laundry... well that's another post entirely.

The tenor, on the other hand, was fabu. He sang Una Furtiva Lagrima. You can tell that he'll be going places while the mezzo will be left behind.

Maybe she was just having a bad day.

Changed my mind about the Zankel backstage pass. Thinking about sending a short email with a request to come back and say hi afterwards...

This isn't totally out of context. One juicy bit of information I've kept from you all is that a few days after I got home (Sunday night), I sent Nathan a short email (yes I have his email address and I'm not telling what it is or how I got it) listing the live shows I have. I included a few lines about my opera-loving Alex and I attached the pictures John took. Tuesday morning he sent a nice reply, apologized for having to run, thanks for the CD, keep that little boy of yours singing, blah blah blah. Oh and he said it was lovely meeting me. Well he didn't use italics but I just love using them at every opportunity here on the blog. Signed his full name, very formal, unlike the emails I've gotten from him in the past which had 1st name only. Obviously I have too much time on my hands if I'm noticing things like that... So anyway I might reply to his email closer to the date of the recital with a short and sweet, I'm coming, I'd love to say hi, any chance of getting on the list? Yadda yadda blah blah blah. He'll either do it or he won't, but if I don't ask, he definitely won't. (There's that chutzpah someone recently "accused" me of having, heh heh.)

Well I've posted enough that the Pictures are no longer on the page. Vaguely considering reposting... nah, I'm not that nuts. Or... am I?