November 2010
18 posts
gears. years.
It is probably because I spend so much time contemplating literary tragedy, that I find fate around every corner. Switching gears today. and years. Right before we started rehearsals on Dido I was launching a tour of our multimedia show about gender. Raising funds to perform it for GSAs and queer youth groups. We kicked off the tour with a show at the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth...
Watch
the ovation
It was tremendous. Especially from where I stand and film. I’m at the back of the hall, just under the balcony overhang. It does something to the sound, that overhang. You notice it most when the audience applauds. The sound bounces back at you from the ceiling, turns applause into an uproar. or maybe that was just me.
It worked. all of it. The hearty welcoming and the fated love and the...
the lament
I saved this for last. on purpose. We structured our rehearsal shooting to document more of the first half of the opera. That is also on purpose. Not to give too much away, not to focus only on this most famous part. To respect that part of the process. Everything builds to this. Let it. Which results in me, sitting in an orchestra seat at Jordan Hall at the dress rehearsal, hearing Laura...
the dance
I know almost nothing about dance. I know a very little about the relationship between people and their bodies in the 17th century. Enough to know that dance is a very important part of this art form. And just as the theater devoid of spectacle is missing something, the baroque opera without dance is incomplete. It seems to be something we’ve lost today, in more places than just the opera. Not...
the spectacle
I remember studying Aristotle’s Poetics in college and getting stuck on the idea of spectacle being the least of the 6 elements of a tragedy… caught up in his admonition that superior poets rely on the structure of the play rather than the spectacle. I’m afraid I produced an awful lot of ‘poetic’ work in black boxes as a result. I forgot that it actually IS one of the 6 elements. ...
where was I?
Promo video weekend always throws me. 24 hours to sum up why it’s special. or at least skim the surface of that topic. but we’d barely begun…
the hero and the love. Scene the Palace. yes, we did that.
next comes the magic. and the meddling…
Watchhero. costume fitting.
the libretto
Fear no danger to ensue,
The Hero loves as well as you.
Ever Gentle ever Smiling
And the Cares of Life beguiling.
Cupids Strew your path with Flowers,
Gather’d from Elysian Bowers.
I am always struck, reading the libretto, how much my experience of hearing baroque opera mimics my experience of reading poetry.
I turn the same phrase, the same verse, over and over in my head. ...
WatchPsyché promo BEMF 2007
the company
So many of my favorites are back! My eyes light up every time Zach Wilder or Jason McStoots walk in the room. You’ll see why, I’m sure. And Brenna Wells. And Douglas, of course. And Tess.
But I work in moments. One moment, that sums it all up. Yesterday. First rehearsal. BEMF. It was this:
I always go out to the hallway and shoot through the door. I don’t...
the opera
One of the ASMs made me a copy of the score. I probably don’t need it to do what I have to do but it makes it so much easier for me to understand what’s going on. To put everything in context. And in order.
There are 3 pieces being presented
• “Welcome, Vicegerent of the mighty King” (Z 340)
• Dido and Aeneas (Z 626)
• “Why why are all the Muses...
rehearsals begin
BEMF chamber opera time. I love BEMF.
breathing life back into a 300 year old work of art. The heartbreaking beauty of this music. The rediscovery of it.
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
performances November 27 and 28th at Jordan Hall.
thanks... thanks.
I turned the sound alert back on on my email program. unheard of in the days leading up to an election. I can’t help it. every time I hear that little bell I turn around and my heart leaps.
my best friend from high school just pledged $100! my theater professor from college. my ‘alterna-mom’ in Milwaukee. I’m just as touched by the ‘no reward, thanks, just want to help.’ emails...