Prancing Around

We’ve had one rehearsal for the upcoming concert and I have to say I think it’s going to be fun! I don’t do much in the Iolanthe scene except creep up on stage when I’m “called” from the deep, then sing my 2 lines, throw off my robe and happily greet my “fairy” sisters. I do a lot of smiling, I greet my son, smile at him as he sings and then the fairy sisters and I prance off stage. We will be wearing long flowy skirts and dresses. What are the chances I’ll step on the edge of my skirt and fall flat on my face, or even better, somehow end up pulling it off? Hopefully slim…

We didn’t yet get to practice it all together. They were all learning a dance while I was shown my staging. We have another rehearsal this weekend, it should be fun. Even though I do sort of feel like a den mother, or girl scout leader, or whatever. I think (but I’m not sure) that all but one of the fairies are in high school. It doesn't matter. But I do sense a sort of distance. I'm the grown-up. If only they knew how much like a 16 year old I feel inside!

At the rehearsal I also got to run through Sposa son Disprezzata with the accompanist. I finally have the timing and tempo correct. I think. There are a few parts where I have to remember to hold back on the breath at first, not to blurt it all out, so I have enough to finish the line. The other singers were coming in (with their parents, some of whom I might be older than…) while I was singing so it was good practice for me to have other people in the room and keep my focus. I did waver a little when I saw them look over. During the performance I focus on the back of the room, sort of toward the point where the wall meets the ceiling. And of course I will become the distraught, betrayed woman in the song, and try to get that emotion into my voice, all without losing my focus. That's the plan, at least.

They’re also doing a few scenes from Magic Flute, in English. I could overhear the 3 spirits singing, 3 girls, they sounded great. I’m looking forward to seeing it all.

Coaching with Cookies

Wow. All the excitement of my 30 Seconds to Mars adventure has kept me from blogging properly. And there is plenty of singing stuff to mention.

Last week I had my first ever vocal coaching with a lovely and talented woman who happens to live in my town. She' in her 80s and is very good friends with my teacher so she won't take money from any of the students my teacher refers to her. So before the coaching I picked up a half dozen of the most beautiful cupcakes from the bakery for her. I should have taken a picture of them.

The coaching was great. It was my first time hearing Lascia ch'io pianga with the piano. It's so beautiful! She gave me a lot of advice about the recit - we went over it about a thousand times. Each time she said, "Ok, just one more time..." Uh huh. And one more, and one more, and one more... and it was exactly what I needed. She talked about how the recit is talking, even though there are musical notes. It's talking. You phrase it like you're talking. We went over the phrasing a lot. You are not restricted to the meter or rhythm because it's not the music... it's talking. With music. She told me that in about 10 different ways until she was sure I understood. As I relaxed I was able to relax into the part and get the musical recit to sound like talking... talking that just happens to have notes behind it. I still have a lot of practicing to do but I might be slowly starting to get a grasp on the concept.

Then of course we worked on the aria. That, of course, is restricted to the music, and needs to have more legato than the recit. And with me, when I learn something new, my legato is the first thing to go, and then I have to work it back in.

Then on Sunday I had an Opera Project rehearsal. But before I go into that, let's back up to a week ago Saturday, when I jumped like mad during the Jared Leto Aerobics Hour (and a half) that was the 30 Seconds to Mars show. My back, it doesn't like jumping. No, not at all. It was already unhappy before the show, from all that standing around. Then, JumpJumpJumpJump!!! and then ... the next day... OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH. It has gotten progressively worse since then. On Sunday morning I gave in and took half a Demerol I had lying around from when I had a root canal. (c'mon, you all do it, you save the painkillers in case you need them again...) And then, I went to the rehearsal. Hoo boy. Not doing that again. Luckily, Husband drove. So I stagger up there (most of the stagger was from the pain) and explain to them that I am on Demerol, then I try to sing. Actually I did ok, except I was nervous and actually forgot the words. I know the words! I know them very well!! Except ... I forgot them. I was ok with keeping the voice on top of the airstream, but my legato left me. One of the men there came up and asked me if I'm embarrassed to let my belly poof out. Well hell yeah, I'm a woman, I keep that sucker sucked in as much and as often as I can. He urged me to let it out and really use it, to use all my breath and not just the last 15% residual air in my lungs. Duh. I know that. But I wasn't doing it. I blame the Demerol. I actually blamed it at the time. I promised I'd be sober next time. I actually said that. I know I shouldn't have. I was just embarrassed at how sucky I thought I sounded. Then they went on about what a beautiful voice I have and it's a very common problem among singers and I need to work on the legato and see you next week. Husband said I didn't sound as bad as I thought. Someone else in the church (we rehearse in a church) told me I sounded great. They didn't have to do that. But if all these people are telling me how nice I sound, why do I think I sound like a screech owl? As I stumble around on my low dose of narcotics? I tell ya, if there's a way for me to embarrass myself in a situation, I will find it and not only will I do it, I will do it well. Of course all I did was thank them for their help and for the compliments while at the same time thinking, "Holy crap, I suck, they're not going to let me sing, they're finding all this stuff wrong, they're lying about how I sound..." Hello, self-esteem? Are you on vacation this week?

Tomorrow I have another coaching. I'll have to stop by the bakery on my way. Maybe I'll get cookies this time - oooh I know - a linzer tart or two. They're pretty big and they are YUM. Hell maybe I'll get one for myself too, and eat it in the car on my way home so I won't have to share. Bwuaa haa haa.

On a completely unrelated note, sources indicate that Our Favorite Baritone, Nathan Gunn, will finally be singing Don Giovanni. According to this article it's set for some time in 2012 in Washington, DC. I'd almost consider combining a mini-vacation there with a road trip to see the Gunnster as the Don. Plenty of time to think/plan/obsess over that.

Opera Project Rehearsal and CHOCOLATE!!

Just rehearsed Batti Batti for the upcoming Opera Project recital:



The woman who gave me those extra lessons last time told me I have improved a lot and it sounds really pretty. *blush* I still find it hard to believe I'm actually doing this! It's still so odd to me to suddenly sing. I mean, I get there, I give the music to the accompanist and then suddenly I have to sing. I know that's what's going to happen, but it's still a sort of shocking transition from just standing around to suddenly singing. Funny, when I stepped onto the stage I actually said out loud, "I love it up here." And that love or delight or whatever helped me relax and sing my best. We went over a few parts where the accompanist and I had to coordinate speed, etc, then I was done.

Then I drove home through a torrential downpour with flooded parts of the road, tree limbs and wires down and general mayhem on the roads. That didn't prevent me from stopping at the market to pick up a few chocolate items - dark chocolate-covered marzipan, one of my favorites, and some ice cream and whipped cream to serve for dessert tonight since I have a friend coming over for dinner. The marzipan I ate most of on the under-one mile drive home of course.

Trust

Voice lesson and Opera Project rehearsal tomorrow.

• I trust my teacher and will follow her advice, even when, or should I say, especially when, she makes me laugh.
• I trust I will not make a fool of myself tomorrow afternoon in the rehearsal.
• I trust the singers and the teachers there to offer moral and occasionally technical support.
• I trust myself not to come across as an insecure little girl, even if that's how I feel inside, especially after I hear other people sing.

I still have this feeling of disbelief, like, how can I possibly share a stage with all these talented singers? How did I trick them? I go back and forth between feeling confident and feeling like I'm insane.

Guess that's typical. I almost typed normal instead of typical, but really, what is normal?

Still All in My Head

Ack! It's all happening so fast. First of two rehearsals for the Opera Project recital is this coming Saturday. I'm singing Batti Batti and I go back and forth between thinking I'm not ready and feeling like I can do it. I've done it. I know I can do it. Plus I have a voice lesson that morning and we'll go over it. And of course I've been practicing. Suddenly I can hear myself letting air out all these places where I shouldn't. I hear that h coming out in between where a vowel has two notes. Last week during my lesson, in addition to the zombie vocal frying, my teacher pulled out the ole rubber band and was stretching it out as I sang. Silly as it sounds, it really helps. So I've been doing it at home. It's hard! I mean, my fingers are sore! But seriously, the visual of the rubber band stretching reminds me to keep the steady pressure and not stop for a h break where it doesn't belong. So I do my glottal stop, my vocal fry, my rubber band stretch, trusting that my voice will send out the correct note all pretty and bell-like, all the while remembering the words, keeping the breath low and steady in the abs, standing still, pressing my shoulders down, gazing out over the "audience" (or out the window, at home) and not fearing those certain vowels on certain notes. I was explaining this all to a friend today who was hanging out while I futzed around with the music. She laughed when I did lip trills. I remember when I first learned about them and how I couldn't get through a line without laughing, kind of like now and the vocal frying. We both laughed hysterically at the vocal frying stuff. But I've been practicing and it really does help. She was good because she assured me that the i vowel (that's long eeeee like see or si) on an F doesn't come out all screechy like I feel it does. She said it comes out like I'm comfortable singing the note. And since I can sing the same note just fine on other vowels, it's obviously all in my head. So what else is new.

Rehearsalish Time

That recital I'm singing in is next week. Of course the rehearsal with the accompanist is next Thursday, when I'm going to see Carmen at the Met. So instead I'm meeting the accompanist in my teacher's studio tonight for a quick run-through. We were joking that I couldn't make the original rehearsal date because I'm making an appearance at the Met... in the audience! Yuk yuk yuk what a jokester. Haha sorry.

Breaking news unrelated to the title of the post:

Billy Budd at the Met the year after next. A friend heard from a Very Reliable Source *cough* that Our Favorite Baritone will be singing the title role. Nothing has been officially announced but the source is Very Reliable so odds are that the contracts have been signed. So we have Die Zauberflote this season, Cosi next season and Billy Budd the following year. Keep saving those pennies!

My New Nickname

Yesterday ended with a true Cinderella moment. But first...

Voice lesson in the morning. My teacher was a bit out of sorts. She had just had a death in the family and was leaving that afternoon on a 3 hour drive for the funeral. So she was a bit out of it. But we pressed on. She was very excited to hear about the rehearsal last week. I told her about the lesson. She was pleased and said that when I'm ready to switch teachers I know have someone to switch to. I was like, wait! Are you trying to tell me something? Like, was she moving or something? She laughed at that and said that it's perfectly normal for singers to switch teachers every few years or so, for a fresh perspective on things, and that no, she'll be around for the long haul. Whew.

Unfortunately she can't make it to the recital because it's her mother's 80th or 85th birthday, I forget which but some birthday milestone, and the party that was scheduled for this weekend got moved to next weekend because of the funeral.

Then, rehearsal. It was fun. I was nervous because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to produce the sound we had practiced during the week. But I did fine. The rehearsal was in the preschool classroom and the piano area is set apart from the rest of the room. It wasn't like a rehearsal where we practiced going up and down on stage. It was more like, practice with the accompanist to make sure he/she knows what you want. I spoke with the woman who's accompanying me. She's so so sweet. She explained that my job is to sing. Her job is to pay attention to me and play to how I sing. I never thought of it like that but that's good - I don't have to worry at all, really, what she's doing. And she's good - she really does listen and change according to what I sing. I told her how I have little experience singing with a real life accompanist and I really like the organic nature of it - it's so much more satisfying then singing along with the CD accompaniment.

After I sang I hung around and chatted a little. And then when I was getting ready to leave, I changed from my heels back into my hiking shoes, like I always do. Then when I get home I always put my shoes away in their box with the paper stuffed into them. Neurotic, maybe, but I like my nice shoes to stay nice. So yesterday I got home and there was just one shoe in my bag. OOPS!! I called and luckily some people were still hanging about, so someone is taking care of my shoe for me until next week. "Don't worry, Cinderella, we'll keep your shoe safe," is what they said. Yeah. My new nickname, no doubt.

Today we got an electric keyboard and stand. 88 keys, piano action, the whole deal. I love it. Alex loves it. Husband loves it. And the music store had a promotion going on - 10% off if you bring in a can of food to donate to the local food bank. I ran to the store next door and for under a dollar I got $45 off my purchase. Nice!

I have another mid-week rehearsal with my "new" teacher this week, then one more voice lesson on Saturday morning, before the real performance. A bunch of my neighbors and coworkers are coming!!! Wow!! I'm sure I'll fret more about that later in a post closer to the date.

Yummy Day!

Wow wow wow! Fabulous day.

Voice lesson this morning went pretty well. I warmed up beforehand so we'd have more time to work. Learned a new vocalise with triplets going up and down, then went over parts of Batti Batti.

This afternoon I had a rehearsal for the recital in two weeks. I was nervous but excited. I sang Una Donna. They cut me off near the end - they being, the man and woman in charge of the group. They wanted to give me advice on how to get through a certain part - they kept apologizing for offering advice!! I'm like, pour in on! As much as you want!! It was this one part of the song near the end where the woman said I was getting off pitch because I was losing ... I can't remember her exact words... but that I needed to use my entire head as my instrument and bring the sound up to keep it at the right pitch. She said to think of how Julia Child spoke, and use that sort of tone or practice or whatever to maintain the loftiness in the sound. So I tried it again and it did sound better. THEN she asked if I'd be willing to come see her one day this week for a quick coaching FREE OF CHARGE!!!! She's a retired opera singer - she has sung with some Very Famous People. She was super sweet. Both she and the man in charge kept telling me that I have a beautiful instrument and how easy it is to fix what it is I'm doing wrong. I was like, "Beautiful instrument? Me? ME?" Ohmygod. I couldn't believe it. She and I spoke for a while. She said that even after 62 years of singing she still has to think about it to produce that lofty "Julia Child" sound, but once you get there, it feels natural and it feels so good it's like an orgasm. Yes, that's what she told me. She was telling all sorts of great stories about people she's sung with (like one Famous and Handsome tenor whose wife was always around and wouldn't let any women near him!). So we exchanged phone numbers and we'll talk about me coming for a quick lesson/coaching. How friggin cool is that? And as I was leaving the guy in charge told me that my Despina was "cute as hell." Cute as hell. Love that!

Alex and Husband came to retrieve me so they got to see the place and meet everyone too.

Wow. Professional opera singers and teachers told me I have a beautiful instrument and that my singing was "cute as hell." Does it get any better?

Of course it does, because it's Saturday, which means that after my and Alex's music lessons this morning we went to the farmers' market and got those mouth-watering tamales, which we had for dinner. And also on the way to the car after the rehearsal we passed a chocolate shop where I bought a few uber-fancy chocolates at $1.50 a pop, including one with cayenne and one with cardamom, cayenne and other yummy things mixed in.

AND my super comfy old-lady nightgown came in the mail today and is in the dryer as I type this.

So this day has left me all giggly and happy. A yummy day. I was long due.

Normalcy?

When I was a teenager I recall one of my friend's mothers saying that the most commonly asked question among teenagers is, "What's wrong with me?" I wonder if it simply starts during the teenage years, when we really become self-aware, and then fades but never completely vanishes from our psyche.

Obviously I am in dire need of a voice lesson and the mental release it provides.

Today I was practicing Batti Batti and was actually pleased with my progress. I am using all the layers I've built into my voice, or I should say, I'm incorporating them all together much more quickly than I was able to before. I'm really working hard now on staying grounded and using my low abs - keeping the breath low in my body. I'm remembering to open open open and not swallow the vowels that are followed by /r/. I'm even finally getting the hang of reading music. I never really learned before, but finally I feel a little less awkward reading along the rhythm, or moving to the note that the note symbol moves to on the staff. I think in terms of wholes and halves. I still have to work on remembering the sharps and flats from the beginning of the music. But little by little my brain is learning to read the music. I can't necessarily name the note by glancing at the staff, but I can do the changes and the rhythms. I still usually have to do the "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" and F-A-C-E for the notes. One layer at a time. I'm glad I'll have a few voice lessons this summer to help me round out the aria.

So anyway, I'm excited by all that. Then, because of Facebook status updates, I'm aware of some of the rehearsal schedule for the opera I'm not supering in this summer, and seeing that makes me sad. Ok, it feels like a kick in the stomach. I know, I know, it sounds so dramatic, but there you have it. I know, I know, get over it already. I am trying to. Really I am. I thought I was over it, until I realized that rehearsals with the supers have probably already begun.

To put things into perspective, I keep reminding myself that if this is what's making me sad, that means that the rest of my life, the real stuff, must be pretty good. Otherwise this wouldn't matter at all.

Plus I still have this other thing in the works at the moment, the thing I won't write about until I know what the outcome will be. So I don't know yet if I'm happy or crushed by that.

So I'm hit with elation, depression, happiness, sadness, and I'm hit pretty hard in both directions, all over the course of several hours. This is my life. Is this normal? To quote the typical teenager, "What's wrong with me?"

Maybe it's time for some medication beyond the girltini. Feel free to recommend your favorite anti-depressant. My doc will rx anything I ask for.

Birthday, Rehearsal, Hooray!

Birthday party rehearsal day! Wait, no. We didn't have a rehearsal for the birthday party! We DID have a birthday party today because it's Alex's 5th birthday today! WOW!!!!! And in the middle I snuck out for the rehearsal for tomorrow's recital. The sound in the chapel was amazing! At first I was a bit overwhelmed by the echo, but once I got used to it I loved it! My sis-in-law came with me and made a little movie. Notice that when she zooms in, the sunlight catches in my frizzy hair and creates quite the halo. I will use Product tomorrow to smooth it down.



So this is the "middle" version of the song. One of my voice teacher's colleagues took the soprano version of the song and transposed it down so it's in between the mezzo and soprano versions we already had. This was my first time singing it through in that key, and the first time with a real live accompanist. I still need to fix where I breath for some of the lines.

When we arrived at the chapel, the piano had this cover strapped to it with a padlock. My voice teacher had a security dude in there trying to open it. He had this huge ring of keys and he was on his back under the piano trying them all... nothing. He left to look for more keys. Meanwhile, the accompanist comes in, picks up the edge of the cover, gives it a flick and the straps all undo. It was like Fonzie and the jukebox. (Sorry, can't find a link for that.)

If Music went pretty well, and then in the middle of Despina we got off the rhythm near the end so we redid that part. And for some reason I messed up the words right at the beginning - I anticipated in "de saper" and sang "se saper." I've never done that before! I won't do it tomorrow. I also got the melody wrong the first time I sang, "e qual regina." Again, I anticipated and sang it the way it goes the 2nd time around. And then the last 'col posso e voglio" bit I was a bit too pushy. All things I can fix. So anyway I edited the clips to make it look like one run through, although you will be able to tell where the cut is.




Even though there was only 5 other people there (the rehearsal was staggered), I got that performance rush and wanted to just hug everyone afterward.

I'm hooked.

Hopefully someone will record it tomorrow. Wheeee my first recital experience!!!!!

Tech-ish Rehearsal: Interesting things

Yesterday we had what I would call a tech rehearsal for the talent show. It was interesting since not everyone could make it. Basically we practiced getting on and off the stage quickly as each act was introduced. I volunteered to be the stage manager which means I have to tell everyone, "Now! Go!" when they need to get out there. By the way I use the term "stage" loosely. It's really just an area of the floor near the wall of the cafeteria where the tables and chairs have been cleared away.

One of the acts is a guy playing guitar while someone sings, "Paper Moon." The singer guy couldn't make it so my Papageno partner and I ended up singing it. I didn't know the words or the tune so that was interesting. Actually it's a pretty easy song and fun to sing. The director decided that we should be backup singers if the scheduled singer shows, otherwise we'll be the main singers for this one.

Then my friend and I did our Papageno Papagena duet. Interesting thing about this was that we had no accompanist because she thought the rehearsal was in a different location so she was there wondering where everyone else was... so we sang a capella and it was great fun! We improvised the movements and it was... easy! We played off each other and sang to each other while still singing to the audience. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I felt really good about the rehearsal. Hopefully the performance itself will be as fun - I'm really looking forward to it! We have one run-through on Thursday afternoon and then the show is Thursday evening.

Oh one other interesting thing - the Paper Moon guitar player was standing there when the director was explaining about my lambada-ish thing during the opening number. She asked if he would be willing to stand sort of near the stage so I could do my thing. Then I went over to him, put both my hands on one shoulder and said, "Sort of like this..." So totally deadpan he said, "I don't think I'm comfortable with that." The director was like, "Uh, ok... if you're not comfortable, we don't..." and he cut her off, "Are you kidding? Of COURSE it's ok." *blush* It was funny. And sort of flattering. But mostly funny because he totally got us with his deadpan line.

The whole thing will be recorded so I'll eventually post the relevant parts.

Graceful Navigation

Received an email from the Guy In Charge of the Supers:

Dear la Traviata Supers

My son and I saw la Traviata Saturday evening and really enjoyed your performances. I'm impressed at how you all gracefully navigated the congested stage.

We filled out a questionnaire which had 5 categories to rate from A-F. We added a 6th, Supers, and gave you guys an A.

Sincerely,

<>

p.s. The show received a standing ovation and several curtain calls.

I have to say that the chorus members make it possible for us to do this - they are aware of our presence and help us appear to navigate gracefully. I don't feel particularly graceful when I'm mincing across the stage with that tray of glasses! I just take a deep breath, stand up straight and plunge into the crowd. But they step aside or part for us to move through as part of the action on stage. What a difference from last year when we had to maneuver a pallet with a person on it around someone who refused to take one step to the side to let us pass.

I have one more opportunity to mince gracefully across the stage, but it's a week away. I hope I don't lose all my glass balancing skills between now and then.

That leads me to a question... One entire week between performances... with no rehearsals... will that matter? I wonder if the principals rehearse or go over the music during their time off. I imagine that they sing every day as part of their routine. But do they take this time to review, or do they use it to prepare for their next engagement?

A Small Correction

I recently learned that during the piano dress, Liz, our Violetta, did NOT spill the ginger ale on herself in her eagerness to down it. Rather, an unnamed, random chorus person did it. Not the random chorus member I've mentioned before, because she surely would have owned up to it.

Hey, at least it wasn't me.

Final Dress Tonight!

Tonight's the final dress for Traviata. My voice teacher is coming, which is ironic, since I'm not singing. My goals are to make my cues and not spill or drop anything.

Rehearsal Peek and the Voice/Personality Connection

In the rehearsal room, the chorus does their thing:



***********



During tech rehearsal hell, *YAWN* there's the crew on the stage doing I don't know what. Their thing. And the rest of us doing... nothing. No thing:



*************

In making these little clips, I made sure not to record the principals. And it's obvious that no matter how great they sound in rehearsal, they're holding it back until the performance.

So all this big deal is made about sopranos being divas. Yeah, maybe the nobody sopranos in the chorus last year... but as far as the principals go, the sopranos so far have been sweet and normal. The tenors, on the other hand, seem to sort of act like little girls.

Baritones, of course, flirt like crazy, even when they're not interested in women. Mezzos are super-friendly (no pun intended but go ahead and think I did it on purpose if you want) because they're tired of always pretending to be boys. Supers are shy and keep to themselves but I'm breaking the stereotype! I am superluminous, watch me glow!

Hmm. That about sums it up.

The Ridiculous Costume

A professional photographer comes to the show to take pictures, and he also does professional head shots for what they say is a reasonable price. Not that I would know.

Turns out he was there today and snagged a couple of shots of the costume that stopped the show with a fit of giggles:



These photos were taken by photographer Jeff Reeder. Look, not only does he have that professional web page, he also keeps a blog. Check it out!

Piano Dress!

The question burning in everyone's mind - to wig or not to wig? And the magic 8 ball says, NO!
Hooray! When I got there I asked the wig people. One of them looked at me and said (nicely), "You can wear it in a braid if you can contain it." So needless to say she ended up putting it up (containing it?) into a huge wide bun.



I'm 2nd from the right in this picture. I marshaled the supers together for a picture, and then Kirstin, one of the overly-pretty platinum blonds in the chorus, was walking by so I grabbed her and pulled her in. (Yes, I know what platinum blond looks like. She's wearing a wig.) She's really sweet. I think you can see in the picture that Ken and Rachel (left and 2nd from left) are really shy, Kelly (next to me) is kind of shy, and me, I'll grab anyone and hug them in close for a picture.

You can't see it in the picture but we also had this white lacy thing sort of stuck on the top of the buns. That's the hair bun, by the way.

I just want to warn you, don't stare at those checked dresses too long or your eyes will go all wonky.

There is much to tell about the rehearsal. Like, how we had ginger ale in the glasses, and Elizabeth (Violetta) chugged a glass down as she does as part of the action and it spilled all down the front of her dress. Then there's supposed to be something called a "click-track" which is prerecorded music that's supposed to be coming from another room, but although they tried like 5 times, the music never started, and then it started about 5 minutes later just as Violetta and Alfredo were about to kiss. They had been arguing since yesterday that it'd be better if the orchestra played it, and today's rehearsal proved they were right. I, of course, have no idea if they prevailed. I guess I'll find out... Ok, so later, there's a scene where a messenger comes in to give Violetta a letter. Remember, this is the first time we're all seeing everyone's costumes. Kelly and I had climbed up to the top of the stairs and were watching from this ledge on the side of the house (remember, the house is the word for the part of the theater where the audience sits). So out comes John dressed in his messenger costume - long straight hair wig, a straw hat, baggy pants that ended below the knee and... wooden clogs. Traviata is a tragic opera, very tragic story. Everyone -cast, crew, the spattering of visitors in the audience - burst out laughing and kept it up for about 5 minutes. The director was like, "Maybe we need to rethink your costume... try it again without the shoes..." It was hilarious.

After Ken and I moved the table on, one of the interns was there holding my tray of glasses, and as I took it from her, she didn't let go. I was tugging it because my cue had come and gone. Then the drinks were sliding and she was trying to straighten them. Finally I said, "Just let go!!!" and ran on stage to serve them. I swear I spend most of my time onstage trying not to laugh at whatever was going on moments before I enter.

Final dress, with a real orchestra: Tuesday.

Shoetastic *YAWN*

Fashion break!!!

Recently purchased these and wore them to two or three rehearsals. Then I found out I needed character shoes,



and since those adorable ballet flats actually hurt like hell I decided to return them to avoid spending all my hard-earned cash on Sesame Street Band-Aids. OMG there are Hello Kitty Band-Aids! I had no idea!! Can I get my painful shoes back????

That shoe picture is from our final room-run. I took a few pictures so I could show everyone just how exciting the the life of an opera singer is:

Wigging Out!!

Got two emails from the super captain (I love that, he sounds like a super-hero) today. Email # 1 has the word "wig" in it 4 times. Go ahead, count them:

Dear Supers:

The la Traviata piano dress is at 11 am on Saturday. The only wig call I see is Kelly at 10:35. If you haven't seen wigs yet you should drop by wigs early so they can decide if you need to be wigged.

Wigged? I don't want to be wigged! And Kelly - she has gorgeous long black curly hair. GORGEOUS! What a shame to cover it under a wig. Can't we all do buns? Or beaded corn-rows?

And email #2, for my professional resume no doubt:

Dear Supers:

From John:

By the way, the supers are doing terrific. Very attentive, and really know their stuff.

You guys are super supers! Also, you will not be needed for the Wandel.

Hooray for small favors. What, I don't need to wander around the stage trying not to spill the feather-light champagne flutes? Hmm on the other hand maybe I should go...

I hope the prop people remember to bring towels. I'll be the one on stage in the checkered dress, on my hands and knees wiping up the spill as the opera moves on around me.

I'm looking forward to the dress rehearsal for several reasons, but by far my favorite is to see how everyone maneuvers around in their giant dresses. Space was tight yesterday in Tiny Clothes. Should be interesting.

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?