When I arrived at rehearsal Tuesday night I noticed some strange characters wandering around - men in quite attractive helmets! James Hopkins, one of these "creatures" and a fine young tenor at UNCSA, told me he felt like a gray-headed turtle, and that's about what they look like. I must get a photo of this headgear tomorrow night. Jamie told the men right off that they would not be able to hear as well with the helmets on, but they had to just get over it, in fact "Embrace it! You're not the first nor are you the last to have this problem. Whatever happens DO NOT remove your helmets!" I'm sure it's safer to have them on with all those swords flying around. Speaking of which, our fight master Dale Girard is leaving shortly for a stint at the Metropolitan Opera, choreographing the fights for their production of Romeo and Juliet! So we're hanging with the big boys.
Also, Jill Gardner and Mark Walters have taped a segment for WFDD radio's Triad Arts Up Close with David Ford about our production, so listen for them sometime next week, 8:50 a.m. If I find out the exact day I will post it. If you miss it, you can also find the interview on wfdd.org after it has been broadcast. (Jill told me that when she's famous, singing at the Metropolitan and being interviewed at intermission, she will proudly proclaim to the world that she grew up in Winston-Salem, home of the finest regional opera in the US! Can't beat that publicity.)
I need to put in a plug for our fantastic production stage managers, Kathleen Edwards and her assistant Ann Louise Wolf. What a job they have to do, and they do it with such skill, precision and good humor! They make sure all the props are available where we need them, and they cue each entrance on stage, to name just a few of their duties that are obvious. So much more planning, etc. has gone on behind the scenes, so to speak. They each have a complete score of the opera, and have marked places at which entrances should occur and by whom with post-it notes. So they have to know the score backwards and forwards, and know where we are at all times, no small task! Once we get to the Stevens Center I'm sure their duties will increase with sets moving around and such. Kathleen also sends out an email each day to remind everyone of the next day's assignments as to when and where to be at rehearsal and for how long. They do everything they can to make us all look good and are greatly respected.
Tomorrow night we will reach another milestone - a complete run-through of the opera, although still in rehearsal mode. Up until now, we in the Chorus (notice that I use "we" to include me now that I sing one line!) have not seen a lot of the action which involves the principals alone. So this will be an exciting evening of great drama! At today's La Lunch, those of us in attendance heard the entire story from Jamie's lips, so we won't need any supertitles to figure out what's going on. Having the libretto (translated) at hand can also help one keep up with the action. Plus we will also have a little audience to play to! A small group of OPERAtors (the Piedmont Opera volunteer association) seized the opportunity to be a sounding board for this effort. A little outside applause will be welcome, hint, hint!
Have a pleasant night and dream of gypsies!
La Zingarella
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