opera summer 2017, #7

Since last I wrote, it's been a week of craziness!

Day 19 (Thursday evening, Idomeneo): Idomeneo Sitzprobe.  Pretty straightforward.  The chorus ran staging in one half of the church while the principals worked through all the solo/small ensemble pieces with the orchestra, then we joined them to do the chorus numbers.  Worked out a lot of kinks in the staging, and I thought we fit with the orchestra quite well.

Day 20 (Friday evening, Idomeneo): Idomeneo room run.  First a music call - going over some entrances, reworking dynamics, getting the energy back that we'd lost over the staging process.  Then into the full run.  A few hiccups, but nothing unfixable.  Getting more comfortable with the order of things and where we go when.  One final run before we're in the space!

Day 21 (Saturday afternoon, Opera 360): I'd forgotten about this rehearsal until the evening before ... Sitzprobe for the gala concert.  Kind of important!  We had a short meeting first with the singers, where we got info on how precisely the space was set up, what the order would be, etc.  Then we got into the orchestra rehearsal proper.  I had to leave early, so I didn't hear all the pieces, but the pieces I did hear were sounding great, and our duet fit together really nicely.  We did some really basic staging, just feeling out the emotional beats and when was best to move closer, or move apart, things like that.

Day 21 (Saturday evening, Suor): Wandleprobe!  First thing was to transport all the set and props - not a ridiculous amount of stuff, but heavy risers.  Got a nasty bruise on my calf, oops.  Then we did the Suor Wandle, which went really well - everything was falling into place quite nicely, the entrances made sense, the distances were about the same, and it actually proved a little easier to not get off the stick from the back of the church, which I was quite pleased with.  (Alas, because we're working in a church, and funnily enough they have a service on Sunday morning, we had to tear down the whole set before we left.  Oh well, we got our exercise for the day...)

Day 22 (Sunday afternoon, Suor): Piano dress!  This went swimmingly.  The only things we're missing now are the orchestra in the space, and our costumes, both of which come on Monday.

Day 22 (Sunday evening, Idomeneo): Idomeneo Wandleprobe.  Also went quite well, though we're still not in the space, and that will make things considerably different.  Soon, though.  Soon.  Soon it will alllll come together.

Day 23 (Monday evening, Suor): Orchestra dress rehearsal!  There were a lot of hiccups tonight.  Tempos felt weird, we had trouble hearing the orchestra (I think the orchestra had trouble hearing us too), costumes arrived but weren't complete in some cases so we had to make do on short notice which caused some flusteredness.  But we got through it and never had to stop, which counts for a LOT.  And you know what they say - an iffy dress rehearsal means a good show, right?

Day 24 (Tuesday evening, Idomeneo): Orchestra dress rehearsal number two - also the first and only time we got to be in the space before opening night, which was a little nervewracking, but we did it.  Marathon of a rehearsal, but that's fine.  Time flies when you're on stage every other minute.  First was a full cue-to-cue walkthrough, no music.  The distances for our entrances and exits were WAY longer than we'd anticipated, but we adapted.  We got a curtain for our 'backstage', which was great on some levels, and caused some more hiccups in others.  After the walk-through, we did a bit of soundchecking with the orchestra, and then the dress rehearsal officially began.  Again, some hiccups here and there, but nothing insurmountable, and we fixed things as we could.  Lots of communicating through side-glances and subtle elbow movements.  On the plus side, the music went remarkably well - we stayed together without many problems and even remembered most of our dynamics.

Tonight is the orchestra dress rehearsal for the gala concert.  I have to do my hair this afternoon, and make sure I know which dress I'm wearing, and make sure I know what all my rhythms are in the recit parts of the duet, because that was where I tripped up last time...  Then a day off, then Friday night is opening night for Suor, and the festival begins!  I can't believe we're this far in, it feels like no time at all has passed.