The Effects of Laryngitis

Just goofing off with the new webcam, singing along to videos on YouTube. Here's one from yesterday... a few bad notes but overall better than before the lessons... especially with the yucky sore throat... I used to think this entire song was too high for me... So this was just before the laryngitis set in...
What's embarrassing is that the words are right there on the screen and I still forgot them and mixed them up with another English version of this duet I know... oops... and I sort of lose it after the 1st half... but I'll put myself out there and post it anyway.



I made another one today... I was going to post it but it's mostly me singing poorly, swallowing and cringing and clutching at my throat!

Ok I'll be quiet now...

Once my voice is back I'll do another. I promise.

Recurring theme: Alone to the Opera!

You know, you only live once and who knows what could happen tomorrow. We all know people who wake up feeling fine and suffer a tragic accident or are diagnosed with a fatal illness... so not to be morbid... ok it's too late for that... but anyway... keeping that in mind...

I'm still kicking myself for not seeing Juan Diego Florez in Miami when I went to Florida last month. I came home the morning of his performance. I knew he was going to be there but forgot all about it when I booked the flight. So... Yeah I know I'm going to see him in Chicago in March... but he's also going to be in La Fille du Regiment at the Met in April and May. Almost all the shows are sold out. Just for fun I was poking around on the Met's website and found a few tickets availalbe for some of the shows. I almost got a ticket for May 12 and realized in time that he won't be in that particular performance! Whew! So I found a single ticket in the second to last row of the orchestra for Friday, May 2nd, and I thought, what the heck. I asked a couple of people if they wanted to go and of course they didn't, so once again I'm on my own. I'm going to the Met on a Friday night! In May! By myself! I look at it like, I probably got a better seat (2nd to last row???) than if I tried to find two seats together. The great thing about going alone is, I can do what I want when I want. I can wait at the stage door afterwards (with who knows how many others...) or not. I know I'll probably do that in Chicago, unless the weather is horrible. Three winters in Minnesota has prepared me for just about anything though... So once again the question is... what to wear? I guess I have time to decide... and two operas to attend before then!

On a totally different note, so to speak, I've had a nasty throat virus the past three weeks. Today I woke up with laryngitis. It hurts to talk... forget about singing. I sing all the time... it was hard today not to ... then I'd grab my throat and croak to a halt. My next voice lesson isn't until Saturday, Dec 1st so hopefully my throat will have healed by then.

Here are some fun videos I've been singing along to with Alex. I can't decide if I love the bananas in this first one, or if they frighten me...



and



and an earlier version:



Which version do you like better? I can't decide, though I'm leaning towards Madelyn Kahn and Grover...

Getting Better All the Time

The singing lessons continue. I can definitely hear an improvement!! Both Jim and my teacher say that I sang well before and now I'm better. I can hear it sometimes.

It's funny but my favorite thing so far are the warm-ups! I can sing warm-ups all day. Although singing songs is fun too. I've started a standard Italian piece called "Star Vicino."

A couple of weeks ago I was with some friends and one of them was trying to remember a song. I thought I knew what it was and sang a line or two. She said, "Wow! You have a really nice voice!" and then, "Oh but wait, you sing opera." I thanked her and said, "Uh, no, I don't sing opera except alone in the car when no one else can hear me! I listen to opera... "

Speaking of that... yesterday Alex and I went to see the Opera New Jersey - Young Artist Program performance at an assisted living center in Jamesburg. I think we were the only non-seniors there who didn't work for the facility or the opera. We stayed for most of it, until Alex got restless. It didn't help that these two women in our row of seats kept showing him silly key chains and making funny faces with him.

Romeo at the Met: December 12.

Never as Bad as You Think

My teacher and and one of my opera friends from this summer both assured me that it's normal to hate how you sound on tape. My teacher told me not to listen to it critically, rather, use it to remind myself of the exercises when I'm home. I kept that in mind and it really did help. And I can hear myself improving. My teacher says she can hear it too.

Let's step back here a moment. My friend who reassured me that it's normal asked about my teacher - he said there are a lot of "fake" teachers out there who will tell the students whatever they think the students want to hear. So...

My voice lessons are through Westminster Conservatory. It's the public music school associated with Westminster Choir College. My teacher was an opera singer with the Baltimore Opera Company. She's an excellent teacher. She teaches Early Childhood music classes with Westminster and was Alex's teacher for a year and a half. She has shown me all sorts of techniques and she's got the whole psychology side of it under control. She knows what to say to give me confidence, etc. So I do not believe she's "fake."

That said... I forgot what else I was going to write!

I've been in Florida since Sunday, just got back today. My next lesson is tomorrow and I haven't been able to practice. There's always tomorrow afternoon.

Defenestration

I listened to the tape from last week's voice lesson. Or, I should say, I tried to listen. I couldn't. I sounded so awful I was ready to follow the tape out the window after I threw it. Only I didn't throw it. But I wanted to.

Shaaaa Faaaa Moooo

Had my first voice lesson last week. It was so much fun! There were points where I dissolved into hysterical giggles over some of the stuff she had me doing - most of it sounded like someone was having wild sex - I kept thinking of that scene in Porky's, "Why do they call her Lassie?"
But I think I did well - I was able to repeat back everything she sang or played. I learned about breathing and posture and I have homework for next class.

Oh no!

Today I found out that Nathan Gunn has pulled out of Romeo for the first 5 peformances due to illness. I've got certain connections on the investigation for me to find out what's going on, if he's ok, etc. Laryngitis most likely but who knows? He probably already had an inkling when he replied to my email last week about his website. Poor guy - really - besides breaking a contract and losing out on the salary, he's probably incredibly disappointed, as are his fans. I can't imagine how I'd feel in that situation - guilty, disappointed, sad, angry... Plus his website is a mess right now...

Luckily as of now he's still scheduled to be in it on the day I'm going. The Romeo lead also pulled out for a different illness.

I know it's selfish but I sure hope I don't fly all the way to Chicago to see him and JDF only to have one or both be sick. That would stink. (I'd use stronger language but I'm trying to keep it professional, heh heh.)

Bedtime once again.

Preparing for Next Summer

NJ Opera is doing three operas again next summer: Candide, La Cenerentola and... OK I can't remember the third. La Boheme maybe?Anyway I remember Mike, the super captain, saying that they will need supers. Don't know which operas or what they'll need... but anyway I figure since I'll probably be in at least one, I should learn them beforehand. I don't need to, obviously, but I think R&J would have been more interesting had I been familiar with it instead of hearing it for the first time out of order in bits and pieces.

Naturally I'm starting with Rossini, La Cenerentola. It's fun! Here's a clip from YouTube:


Oh what a surprise, Juan Diego Florez is in it.

That's all for tonight.

Just In Time!

Met tickets went on sale yesterday. Denise was planning on going to the box office to get some but didn't get around to it. This morning I checked and the Dec 12 R&J was almost sold out! The section we wanted was and the best available was the balcony. So she called. The woman on the phone at first told her that they didn't have 5 seats together. Denise asked her in the most desperate way if there was any way at all to get 5 together, and the woman suddenly found some! We're in the center section but all the way off to one side, three seats in row F and 2 in row E. Or is that three in E and two in F? They're right behind each other which is better than 5 in a row. I'm looking forward to it! Just have to figure out what to wear!! It'll be interesting to compare the Met's production with this summer's.

On another note, I heard back from Manon after I removed the R&J videos from YouTube:

Don't worry, I am not upset at all. I appreciated the initiative. It is very nice of you to understand my situation.
merci beaucoup,
manon.

And now before opera keeps me awake again, I'm off to bed, early for a change.

What To Make of This...

A few weeks ago, after much deliberation, I posted onto YouTube a few of my personal favorites from the videos I took of R&J rehearsals. They're each 30 seconds long and I think I posted 5. So today at my YouTube account I had the following message in my inbox:

It is Manon Strauss Evrard. Thank you for putting up some videos.They are very interesting but I would rather not have them on the internet. I am not a hundred per cent satisfied by the performance. I would really appreciate if they could be taken off youtube.

Sincerely,
Manon.

So I went in and made them private, and sent a reply that of course I'd remove them and that I'm sorry if they bothered her, blah blah blah. But the whole time I was thinking, I took the videos and they're mine to post as I want. She'd probably never be satisfied with the performance because people always see what they perceive as wrong. On the other hand, she did ask very nicely, which is why I changed them to private. That's as good as taking them down since I have to specifically allow people to view them. I also went and removed the video I posted to the Summerfest page on Facebook. I'm not removing the videos from Photobucket since, although they're public, there are no tags and I don't think people cruise around Photobucket looking for videos. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know it was me because she didn't use my name in the message. Not that it matters.

What Justifies What? Chicken vs Egg

I'm excited about going to Chicago even though it's like 6 months from now. Yeah, for the opera, but also because I'm really looking forward to just getting away from real life for a few days. It'll be a mini-adventure and a mini-escape. Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis or something! But really, I'm looking forward to doing something on my own. I'll eat where and when I want, sleep diagonally on the bed and Alex won't be climbing over me at 3am or whenever. Of course I'll probably need benadryl or something to get to sleep! But like I wrote on my MySpace page, it may seem strange to travel all that way just for an opera, but really what I needed was an adventure, and Barbiere with JDF and NG together not only gave me the excuse, it also helped me choose a location. Otherwise I don't think a March jaunt to Chicago would be my first choice of a "me" trip! And since Auntie Cyd left us each a healthy chunk of change, I don't even feel guilty about the cost.

Speaking of cost... I'm pretty sure I'm still going to Romeo at the Met in December. More on that later this week when individual tickets go on sale. Which reminds me... I was laughing because in that little MySpace email exchange I had with Nathan, I had mentioned that I might be going to Romeo, and he replied with the stock, polite answer, "Hope to see you there" or something similar. Yeah well OK if you grab a spotlight and shine it up into the balcony and then pull out your binocs (opera glasses?!) and squint through them, you might just see me there. But I doubt it. The Lyric, on the other hand... if I had taken the 2nd row ticket, definitely. In the 14th row... maybe, but probably not. If I wait by the stage door after the show, probably. Will I do that? Probably not. Oh who the hell knows. (and I know that whoever is reading this is probably also thinking, who cares...) Gotta go to bed. Once again, opera and its peripherals are keeping me awake.

R&J Tears

I’m here at work listening to (and sort of watching, in a small window) a movie version of Romeo et Juliette that Denise loaned me. It stars Roberta Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. I find myself mouthing the words along, and I didn’t even realize I knew them! Listening to this professional recording makes me realize how talented the NJO singers are. Manon especially. She could’ve been in this movie.

I may have to stop listening. It’s so beautiful and tragic that it’s bringing tears to my eyes. Part of that might be nostalgia for the summer…

Road Trip! (ok, Air Trip)

I'm going to Chicago, I'm going to Chicago! (sing it)

I called the Lyric on Aug 1st after many frustrating attempts at purchasing a ticket online. They offered two different seats - 2nd row center (!) and 14th row but slightly to the right of center. I thought about it and decided to go with the 14th row so I wouldn't get a neck strain (or get spat on! Blech). I got pretty good airfare from Newark to Chicago and an excellent rate at a nearby hotel. Three of my online friends from Connected Moms live there. I've known them all for over 4 years! I'm definitely meeting one and hopefully the other two also.

Let's see...

I left off some fun info from my previous post. Just silly stuff, really. Silly, giggly stuff to liven up the sometimes boring life of a mom and housewife. Remember the 29 year old boy who shamelessly flirted with me? (and anything else on two legs, but I don't care about them!) Anyway at the Sunday farewell party, he left early because his "ride" was leaving. Then he pulled me aside and said he was leaving b/c there was a good chance he was going to hook up with her that evening. THEN he said, "You know, Susan, it would have been you if you weren't married." Empty promises when there's no chance, right? I replied, "Oh yeah, I know." As if. Well maybe, in a different world where I'm single and 10 years younger!

Ok, here's the fun stuff.
Elizabeth F in Seattle is on my friends list on MySpace. I was looking at her page and saw a new friend - "Nathan." So I went to his homepage and sent him a little message, dropping Ricardo's name. Today I got a very nice reply!

I love the Internet.

Thank goodness it didn't exist when I was a teenager. Lord knows what kind of trouble I would've gotten into. Not that I needed the Internet to get me into trouble... But now I can do it all in the comfort of my desk chair. But I digress. This post is not so much about opera as it is about opera people. And ... I'd rather be sleeping so I'll sign off.

Endings and Beginnings

The days are just packed. Packed I tell you!

Friday I brought Alex to the ice-cream social. He was shy at first but after running around a tree five hundred times he finally warmed up. He even spontaneously broke into song, causing the artistic director of the opera to turn his head! He also told a bunch of people that he wants to be an opera singer, and just like in the video here, launched into Pa pa pa.

Saturday Jim and I went to see Die Zauberflote. It was great. The three ladies had matching sidekicks - "ladies in waiting." The girls had matching costumes with their lady - it was really cool. Papageno was hysterical - really really funny. He entered from the house and sang his first aria from the aisle. He couldn't see the conductor and he kept losing his place with the music. Otherwise he was great. Everyone was. The three spirit boys were played by three women from the chorus. They wore these Harpo Marx wigs and white or grey pajama-like outfits that I later heard were ordered from a clothing catalogue for gay men. Hmm. Pamina was great. I actually got a little weepy when she was singing to Tamino and he was keeping his vow of silence.

Then that night was the final Romeo. It was fun! We did our bit and then hung out in the green room. I brought a bunch of old Opera News magazines and a few bags of gummy worms. And those gummy worms were a hit! If I had thrown them to the floor I think people would've dove for them. And once again we had our hoods down for the curtain call.

This evening one of the guys who lives locally had a party at his house. It was the first time I really interacted socially with a bunch of the chorus, and it made me sad that I didn't have the opportunity to earlier. The artistic director told me that his favorite part of the Romeo curtain call was my hair. I'm glad it made an impact! I may have written this before, but I wonder if the audience realized that many of the monks were women!

I became friendly with one of the guys in the chorus and listen to this - he took the toefl a few months ago so I asked him if he remembered any of the listening comp sets he had. He described one to me and I totally knew it because I had worked on it! That was pretty funny. He was just shocked when I cut him off and told him what the rest of the conversation was about! I also learned that he is a student of Nathan Gunn. He said he's taking one of his classes in the fall and will tell him that he met one of his fans in NJ. Whatever...

My (biased) Review of the Scenes Concert

I wrote this as if I were writing a review, sort of. Here it is:

When I learned that there were comp tickets available for Mischief, Merriment & Mayhem, my first thought was, Oh well, I have a massage scheduled for that night. A moment later I said to myself, What, are you nuts? Reschedule the massage and go to the concert! And I'm so glad I did! The singing and acting was wonderful!

The show opened with a cute scene from Il Matrimonio Segreto. Two sisters were arguing over (uh… I don't remember what, probably a man) and their aunt was trying to keep the peace. It was so cute! The sisters kept bickering and the aunt, finding herself exasperated, sank to her knees to meditate in an effort to keep calm. The scene culminated with the sisters belly-whopping (is that what it's called?) each other and running off. Wonderful singing, wonderful acting. Plus they were wearing these great, shiny, colorful satin robes.

Next was a beautiful Mozart aria from La Clemenza di Tito sung by tenor John Viscardi. It's hard to find words to describe the beauty of his voice. Clear and bright, full of feeling… just lovely.

On to spookiness- Le Contes d'Hoffman – This was just wonderful. The lighting made huge shadows behind the singers – it was really creepy! Paola Gonzalez was fabulous as the dying Antonia. And Jenni Bank sat so still it was suprising when she began to move and sing. Ricardo Sepulveda was perfectly evil. Very entertaining!

Back to silliness – Rossini of course! People dressing in disguise trying to fool each other. The scene was from Le Comte Ory. It was hilarious. I love how the nun entered the scene from the audience. The three singers had great comic timing. This was just wonderful. The expressions on Kala's face were just priceless!

Then we were treated to the popular "La Donna e Mobile," sung by tenor Patrick Layton. His facial expressions and gestures added just the right touch to his performance.

The caption on the dress rehearsal photo said he was singing A Mes Amis. I wish I could have heard him sing that! Maybe I'll find him in the green room during Saturday's Romeo performance and make a request.

Next: Mozart. Don Giovanni. Need I say more? Well I will! WOW. Mozart is the master of everyone singing different things at once, and the group on stage pulled it off with ease. It was awesome.

Then we were brought back to Rossini, this time, La Cenerentola. Cinderella. She's so good to forgive all the people who were mean to her. Sara Fanucchi made Rossini's crazy coloraturas sound so easy. The choreography was great. I found it interesting that the music for this aria is the same as "Cessa di piu resistere" from the end of Barbiere.

After a short intermission, the show continued with what I believe was the highlight of the night: Zulimar Lopez. Wow. WOW! WOW! 'nuff said. I'm glad she didn't trip over the fallen barrette.

After recovering from Ms. Lopez's stunning performance, we were treated to another Mozart piece – one of my favorite arias from one of my favorite operas, La Nozze di Figaro. I don't recall the name of the aria. (I can still love it without knowing the name, right?) Ah the Count. Ah baritones. Love Rob's voice.

Ok then it was back to the master of silliness, Rossini, with something from L'italiana in Algeri. This was hysterical! The choreography was fabulous. Everyone had such great looks on their faces and excellent comic timing.

Next we were treated to a lovely Donizetti aria by Gabriel Gunsberg.

The show culminated with an entertaining trio from, you guessed it, Rossini. This time it was Guillame Tell. I got distracted part way through this one because I thought I heard someone's cell phone vibrating behind me. I peeked back and saw that an audience member had dozed off and was snoring! How???

So maybe I'm biased since I've seen all these singers perform over the past few weeks and have gotten to know some of them, but I thought the entire evening was fabulous.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So much has happened since I last posted. A dress rehearsal, two performances, two scenes concerts... where to begin.

I'll begin with the sad news that my dear aunt, "Auntie Cyd," passed away on Friday, the 21st at the age of 96. She had been so supportive of both Alex's and my musical aspirations. I'll miss her dearly.

Back to the opera.

I decided to make a true effort to "get over it" and be social. Well well well. It worked. Mostly. There are still one or two women in the chorus who I think are just unhappy people, but otherwise everyone has responded, even if hesitantly at first. Of course, the fact that I brought cookies, a big crossword book and the latest Opera News helped! Another thing that helped is that one of the guys told me about a group on Facebook for the summerfest program. I joined Facebook and joined the group. It's a cool site, much nicer to work with and look at than MySpace. So I've shared my photobucket link and I've sent links to Romeo reviews to one of the members who's been posting them.

Ok so... let's move on to the dress rehearsal. My robe was so long, I was tripping over it as I walked. I don't know how I got out there without dropping Erika (our dead Juliette) to the floor. Somehow I managed. Then when it was time to leave the guys got to her head and started lifting before Rachel and I got to her feet. We scrambled to get our end, meanwhile the shroud slid off in front of me so I tried to catch it, now only holding on with one hand, while also trying not to trip. So I might have stepped on the dress of the woman at the end of the line... sorry about that!

Two days later, on opening night, I found that the costume shop had hemmed the robe. Too much. Now it was above my ankles! Better that than tripping I guess. So after the prologue I went to the costume shop to have it lengthened. Of course no one was there b/c they were all backstage checking everyone as they went on. But eventually I did get it lengthened before my next 5 second appearance to remove the basket.

Sunday the 22nd was the next performance. It was at 2, and Auntie Cyd's funeral was at 2:15, so I was thinking of her as I went on stage.

I brought chocolate chip cookies so after the prologue I put them out in the green room, along with the NY Times crossword book, a cool ball and the latest Opera News. It was actually a lot of fun hanging out with people there. Plus as a bonus this cute 29 year old guy flirted shamelessly with me. Well he flirts with everyone but hey, who cares? He's probably already made his way through the female chorus so he moved on to the supers! Plus he sang a bit of Ecco Ridente... Aye aye aye. He's the one who told me about the Facebook site. If I were, oh, 10 years younger, and single... let's not go there.

Hair, hair, hair. They sewed these loops into the monk hoods and we have to make pin curls in our hair to clip to the loops. Pin curls, I learned, are made by taking a small section of hair, twirling it up and clipping it to the top of the head like Princess Leah (sp?) or something. We're supposed to have the hair people do it but they're always busy doing wigs and makeup for the singers so we're sort of on our own until the last minute, and I do mean last minute. As in, Jenny is giving the "places" call and they're busy redoing our pin curls! So Sunday I did Cathy's hair. In addition to the pin curls we have to have buns. So we sit around twirling and pinning each other's hair. Then, about 5 minutes before the curtain call we were told that we could have our hoods off, so we had this frantic minute of undoing and fluffing out our hair so it looked presentable on stage! It was fun. Rachel ended up keeping hers in a ponytail, and Sharron decided not to go out. Cathy and I had our hair loose. I wonder if the audience was surprised to see three women there as the monks?

We got comp tickets for both scenes concerts. Last week I brought Denise. It was great fun except that she spoke between every performer, usually to ask, "Is HE in Romeo?" "Is SHE in Romeo?" in spite of the fact that I told her that everyone is in all three operas. The performance was great!

Then yesterday I got three tickets so I gave them to Jean and she brought her son along. The show was fabulous. I wrote up my impressions and emailed them to Patricia for the njot blog. I'll post them here too. After the show I was walking out with Jean and Nick and then told her that I wanted to see if anyone I knew was hanging around, so they left. I peeked in near the stage door but didn't see anyone so I went downstairs to leave and who was there but my flirty 29 year old friend. I don't think I need to put his name here. If by any chance anyone from the operafest ends up reading this post they'll surely know to whom I'm referring and I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it. Anyway, he was primed for high-level flirting. Downright suggestive. I gave it right back to him, ingeniously including the fact that I'm married whenever possible. We said goodbye, I left and went to the car, and then there he was walking by so I offered him a ride. He accepted. Turns out he was going two blocks away. Duh!

Friday afternoon there's an ice-cream party and I got the ok to bring Alex. Then Saturday afternoon Jim and I go to Magic Flute, and then the final Romeo is that night. I'm sad that it's ending. I wish we had more than three peformances.

No, I'm not crazy...

So much to report! Had the piano tech and piano dress rehearsals this week.

The tech rehearsal was the first time we rehearsed on the stage. The director had to make a few adjustments to make things fit. Like, the director told the guys in the chorus that they have to move all the way downstage so that we have enough room to get the bier through. More on that later... And now instead of moving downstage, Rachel and I move upstage to the back, otherwise we'd fall into the orchestra pit! I learned a lot of theater lingo and practice. Like, cue lights; they look sort of like traffic lights or those industrial light bulb cage things, and there are different colors for different cues.

Jim dropped Alex off during Friday's rehearsal. At first he was afraid to enter the theater because the entrance was dark, but as soon as he saw those theater seats he wanted to sit in one. And he did. And it promptly folded up on him! It was pretty funny. So I stuck my leg on the end to keep it open, handed him a box of raisins and he sat quietly watching the rehearsal until I realized that when I traded cars with Jim when he dropped Alex off, I left the keys to the car I was now supposed to be driving in my work bag in the car Jim was now driving to Philadelphia in... oops! Luckily he hadn't gotten far so he came back with the keys. Thank goodness for cell phones!

Saturday was the first dress rehearsal. The sleeves of my monk robe hadn't been sewn into cuffs, and they did it then, finishing a few minutes before the rehearsal started. The costume shop was very busy! Someone was doing wigs and hair extensions in one corner, someone else was ironing, sewing machines were whirring and people were hand-sewing things too. In between all that they measured and fixed my sleeves, cut and tied rope around all the monk robes as a belt and were constantly interrupted by cast members stopping in to ask if they looked OK. It was nuts! But my sleeves got fixed and we all got our belts. The hoods are huge. You have to have it just so or it'll flop over your face. Everyone kept telling us that we looked like characters from Star Wars. Actually that was the first (and pretty much only) time the members of the chorus really interacted with any of us.

Which brings me to the subject of my post. I wrote before about the social dynamics at work in the cast. The supers stick with the supers, the chorus sticks together and the principles seem to hang out alone. So on Friday when we were all assembling in the theater, I sat in a row where some chorus members were sitting. Someone in front turned around, I said hello, she turned back without answering. Okay... In the hallways too... I'd say hello... that is, if the person even made eye contact... Some grudgingly replied, most ignored, none smiled. On Saturday I arrived early enough to get coffee at the Wawa. One of the chorus was next to me getting milk and sugar. I smiled and said hello. She gave me this half smile and said hello as if it pained her to do so. Later I was walking behind her from the dressing room to the theater and she dropped one of the doors in my face. Did she not know I was behind her? Was I being too sensitive? Or were the women in the chorus being unfriendly? I asked Cathy, one of the other supers. She said she had noticed it too but like me, wondered if she was imagining it. So we started paying attention, saying hello as we passed them, etc, and almost all snubbed us. A few said hello but none smiled. Strange. Then during the rehearsal, the men didn't move down enough, so the last guy in line was directly in front of me when I had to come out. I managed to squish around. The director wanted to talk to someone about the scene so I asked the guy if he could move down. The woman in front thought I was talking to her and I told her no, she was fine, it was the guys, and I was talking to the guy behind her. She turned to him and said in the most distasteful way, "Ricardo, this person wants to tell you something." It was all I could do not to laugh at the way she said that! Okay... he was nice enough but really it's the first guy in line who wasn't moving down enough, so I told the asst stage manager.

We share a dressing room with the women's chorus, much to their disappointment. There were a few women there when I arrived and no one replied to my hello. In the green room near the dressing room there was a big bag of candy from the night before, with a sign on it saying it was for the supers to thank them for their hard work. I heard one of the women say, "Ugh. It's for the SUPERS."

Now I must point out that not all the chorus members are behaving this way, but most only interact with us if they absolutely have to, and then they make it clear that they'd rather not.
I'm not upset or personally offended since none of them know me. I do feel that their behavior is unprofessional. Funny, since the supers are volunteers and the chorus gets paid. (At least I think they do.) I'll continue to smile and be friendly, and if I keep getting snubbed I just might call someone on it. Just for fun.

The principles, on the other hand... They smile, say hello, hold doors, say "excuse me" and "thank you" and generally behave like normal, friendly people. The director is cool too. He's silly a lot of the time, makes a lot of jokes, even when sort of scolding people about what they're doing, so people can laugh at themselves and not get upset.

So I ask for comments here from theater and opera people: Is this normal behavior for an opera chorus? Is there some sort of pecking order here and supers are at the bottom?

And so not to end on a sour note, I leave you with Juliette's pretty aria before the ball from Friday's rehearsal, in three parts. THIS is why I wanted to be a super!

Can't type in the "title" field. Just as well because I can't think of a good title at the moment.

Had another run-through yesterday. Guess what? I got put into another scene! The director actually remembered my name, which is impressive since there are so many people involved in the production and I've only been to three rehearsals. He decided to have the supers do one of the scene changes, which I think is a cool idea. I've seen it done in other operas and I like how it looks. Definitely better than black-clad stagehands skittering about moving things around in the dark. So now I go on as R&J leave after their wedding. I pile a bunch of odds and ends into a basket and carry the basket off. Two other supers take the table, and Sharron (with 2 Rs) takes the chair. I feel like it's so silly to be excited about this and writing all these minute details, but it's really so much fun.

They went through the sword fight a few times, first as part of the run-through, and then a few times silently while the fencing guy (I assume that's who he was...) gave them tips. It looks like a lot of work! There are tons of people all jumping around, clashing swords and pretending to punch and be punched. One guy had to keep falling down flat on his face each time. Ouch!

It's weird being a super. There's a social dynamic that must occur with any production and we're sort of in our own little universe. Everyone seems very nice but I really haven't interacted with anyone except the other supers. I had one very short conversation with one of the singers yesterday about curly hair because we have similarly textured hair. But then the swordfight got a bit too close and she had to move or get stepped on. The chorus members have been rehearsing together for weeks now and all seem to know each other really well. They drape all over each other when they're not on and have all these different little social groups. Some stay in the room during rehearsal, others move to the green room. And the truth is, as outgoing and friendly (pushy?) as I can be, I'm actually a little intimidated to talk to anyone. What's up with that??

I took a bunch more videos and put them up at Photobucket.

Super R&J Business

I've been to two more rehearsals for Romeo. On Saturday we carried Juliette in and out on that stretcher thing about 5 times. That was a bit much on my arms! But I survived.

Yesterday was the first run-through. Once again it was amazing to hear all the singing! And what was really cool too was that I didn't care that all these extra people were watching. Not that I do anything momentous or requiring any skill, really, but I had no problem taking a deep breath and lapsing into, "Sad, accepting, respectful monk-mode," or, SARMM as I just this moment decided to call it. I hung out for a while after I was done, just to watch. It was such a treat! I wish I understood more French so I could follow the dialogue. I made a bunch of short videos. Here's one where the stretcher, which had been leaned up against the wall, falls, and one of the other supers catches it.

That one and the others are here.

Next time I'll see if someone will take pictures of the super-monks in action.

Road Trip!!! (Air trip actually)

Well well well. Oh dear. I learned something today, something... interesting. Oh yes. I thought I had read somewhere that JDF was playing Almaviva at The Lyric next year, so just for fun I went to their website. And guess who's playing Figaro. I mean, guess!!??

So now... I HAVE to go. There is no "thinking about it, maybe, hmm..." Oh no. I AM GOING. I think I have enough frequent flyer miles to cover the ticket. I just have to wait until Aug 1 when single tickets go on sale to see if I can get a good-ish seat for the night I can go - the only mid-week performance during Spring Break, when Jim will be able to stay home with Alex. I emailed Elizabeth in Seattle to see if she'd be interested in going. Either way, I'm going, even if I'm going alone. I wonder what type of hotels are near the opera house? (And on a related note, I wonder what hotel... never mind, I won't even finish that juvenile thought. At least not here.)

No sore throats allowed this winter, guys!

And of course I'm still going to R&J at the Met this December...

Speaking of R&J... time for a separate post...