Day 9 (Tuesday evening, Suor): first full run! went quite well for the first go. definitely need to work on the bits where we sing from the back. after the run was finished, we worked on one of those singing-from-the-back scenes.
Day 10 (Thursday evening, Suor): some reworking of staging since one of our singers had to take on a new role. then more working of the finale, again a spot where we sing from the back. hard to line up, man.
Day 11 (Saturday morning, Suor): run-through again! this is a special run-through - we've fixed up the new staging with the singer who is filling in the role I mentioned before - AND WE FINALLY HAVE OUR PRINCESS! the first part of rehearsal was the Zia Principessa and Suor Angelica doing their scenes, then we added the Abbess in for her scene with them, then we ran the ACTUAL whole thing for the very first time. (we were short one soloist, and everyone kinda blanked that we were short the soloist until we got to her scene, and so Suor Angelica helped an invisible and silent nurse ... we were all rather amused)
Day 12 (Sunday morning, Opera 360): coaching on the Romeo and Juliet duet I'm doing for the gala concert. went really well. a few spots of interesting tempo, and matching up rits is always a fun exercise, but we got through it without problems and I at least know what I need to work on. it's gonna be really good.
Day 12 (Sunday evening, Idomeneo): run of the chorus music, then into staging more of act 1. it's a slow process, there are a lot of us and we all have to look 'natural', so it's not a situation where we can get regimented specific staging. we also don't have a lot of space to work with, or levels, which narrows staging options further. supposed to be off-book for this rehearsal. getting there. the numbers we did that night I had 95% off-book - mostly just forgetting a word here and there. however, we entirely bombed the chorus soloists' quartet. good thing we would work on it the day after on our own ...
Day 13 (Monday afternoon, Idomeneo): quick coaching on the chorus solo/quartet bits. unfortunately we didn't have our tenor (I suspect he was working on the children's opera at the time), but we got some good work done anyway. we all feel more secure on the quartet section which really tripped us up in the staging rehearsal on the 30th. lots of starting on off-beats, and we're spread out across the stage at that point as well, which will throw anyone off.
Day 14 (Thursday evening, Idomeneo): back to staging - from mid-Act I to the end of the show. I learned very quickly that the Act I finale was not NEARLY as solid in my head as I thought it was: oops. on the flip side, one of the numbers I thought for sure I was going to be a memory disaster on went without a hitch! still struggling to remember staging which is very similar in most scenes, but it will come with time and repetition.
Day 15 (Saturday afternoon, Suor): haven't done Suor for a week! time to get back to it! this run-through was a bit awkward, as you'd expect for coming back to it after a week of not having it in rehearsal - a few tempo issues which need to be remembered (trust your eyes, never your ears), some awkward staging which we worked on again, but we got through the whole thing without crashing and burning, so I'm quite happy about that. also I had almost all my performance props at this rehearsal, which is super useful! I need to remember, though, that a bag of flour is heavy, regardless of the fact that the prop bag of flour is actually full of paper...
Day 16 (Sunday afternoon, Idomeneo): stumble-through! this was the true test of our memory: how much of the staging from a week ago or more do we remember? we got most of it. there were a handful of awkward "which number is this again" moments, but everything got ironed out. we also added the inter-scene dialogue to this run, which added a few snags, but again, all got worked out. one of my jobs today will be to go through the show's script and write in my blocking, then when I see my fellow chorus soloists on ... Thursday ... I will double-check it with them during the break. Thursday is a Sitzprobe (first rehearsal with orchestra, no staging, just concert-style), so we will have time to compare notes.
this week and next are the last weeks of rehearsal before we open all these various shows. tonight, I have a full run of Suor again (actually we'll probably run it twice plus working on rough bits): we're now well into the finessing and detail work. how do our gestures fit into our characters? are we actually communicating what we think we are? on the flip side: have we gotten complacent? are we doing the same thing every time because it's what worked before? are we actually IN the performance?
I still feel like I have a lot of work to do for Idomeneo. my character has evolved into a 'watcher' character, along with the other soloists' characters. we are mainly neutral, helping the story along, involved but not quite invested. it's an interesting line to play, but it's really easy to look too disinterested. I need to spend some time thinking about how i can communicate the distance my character has from the goings-on without seeming too aloof.
tomorrow i have the evening off, and i'll be having a handful of fellow singers over for a couple hours of fun planning for our little gaming group, before probably taking a bubble bath and relaxing before tech week officially starts:
- Wednesday afternoon: another coaching for the Romeo & Juliet duet, plus a photo call for the program (need pictures of all of us in our costumes, plus regular headshots)
- Wednesday night: Suor Sitzprobe (with orchestra, without staging)
- Thursday night: Idomeneo Sitzprobe
- Friday night: room run for Idomeneo (full run-through, not in the space yet, I don't think we have orchestra?)
- Saturday night: Suor Wandleprobe (with orchestra, with staging - possibly in the space?)
- Sunday afternoon: there's a Suor call, must be for touch-ups...
- Sunday evening: Idomeneo Wandleprobe (I think we finally get into the space!)
- Monday evening: Suor orchestra dress rehearsal
- Tuesday evening: Idomeneo orchestra dress rehearsal
then two days off...then performances start on Friday!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment