Singing for my supper

To start at the end instead of the beginning... June 29, 2012 brought some pretty awful storms to the region. Our area was one of the worst-hit, with trees down pretty much on every block; we consider ourselves beyond lucky that neither of the two big elms in the front yard came down on our house and that we suffered no material damage.  Still, no power for 4 days and 16hrs - during a 3-digit heatwave - is a whole lot of not fun (and, at writing, some people are STILL waiting to be restored nearly a week after the event).  Short version: never underestimate a thunderstorm, and if your weather channel ever says the word " derecho ", check your insurance policy, hunker down, and make sure you have somewhere to go after the fact.  Every bit as bad - or worse - than a hurricane, and more like tornado damage. Earlier in the month, our daughter graduated middle school and moves on to high school in September. When did THAT happen?! Last time I looked she was a cute littl...

How wonderful to see these broadcasts from Glyndebourne! Highly recommended. And, as always, The Cunning Little Vixen (just broadcast as at writing) leaves me breathless, tearful, and smiling. http://glyndebourne.com/cinema-and-online-2012

Hard at work  in rehearsals for my next show at the moment, but still found a few moments to pull out the little s95 point-and-shoot camera that I always have with me.  One of my cast-mates is also a photographer and has been doing a great job of documenting our rehearsal period more formally, but I couldn't resist taking a few quick snaps myself; it's a side of  the process that people don't always get to see even though to those of us who work in the theater it's simply a normal work environment. One of the best things about this rehearsal space is NATURAL LIGHT.  Many rehearsal rooms are in cinder-block basements and bunkers, so to see daylight every day is a real treat. There are a lot more people in the rehearsal room than you might think:  in addition to the cast, there's the director, conductor, assistant conductor, pianist, stage manager, two assistant stage managers and, in this shot, our artistic director had also stopped ...

The Cardinal's Nest I don't think it's just us mezzos who regularly face this, but a recent blog post I stumbled over has sure hit the nail on the head, almost word-for-word echoing my own experience and understanding! I won't even add comment here, since the author has said everything I would have myself. Enjoy!

5 auditions, three photoshoots (that I took, rather than was in!), two headcolds, and a full production of Figar o. Talk about "feast or famine" (and that's before we include my husband's concert commitments, as well as our daughter's school play and charity dance performances.) It's been insane! It's also been fantastic. Figaro , as always, was such a joy to work on (Mozart's music never seems to pall, even after 11 productions!) - and it was rewarding that it was so warmly received by the full houses we garnered. With my lovely Figaro colleagues Olivia Vote, Zulimar Lopez-Hernandez, and Troy Cook at the closing party I love my job(s), but all that said after another audition and 350 miles of driving today, I can't deny that I'm very glad for a day off tomorrow without any set commitments!

True confession: I finally started following Twitter. I made an account a while back but didn't quite catch on to how it worked, and it's only now that I've been making a point of checking it regularly. (You can find me @MezzoMG if you're interested in following.) After two weeks of active participation, while I can see how it could be a potential time drain - especially since so many of the accounts I follow are linked out to articles, news stories and blogs - it has also drawn my attention to some really interesting things I might have missed otherwise. So with that in mind, in no particular order, a blogroll of some sites which have recently caught my interest: A Hit, a Very Palpable Hit (@vlavla). I found this linked off an article about the Hamlet, John Simm, but the blog itself is a wonderful account of what we all go through as performers as we put together a significant show. Excellent stuff. I Value the Arts (@ivaluethearts) Widely circulated through soci...

I had such high hopes for regular blogging while I was away. I figured I'd have enough spare time on my hands that I could write a little more than I do at home, and really consider some thoughts that have banging around my head for a while now. Well, to say that the gig was intense is an understatement. Absolutely wonderful, inspiring, stimulating, challenging (in all senses of the word) and happy, but more all-encompassing than anything I've done in many years. Most days I was simply too tired to write by the time I finished rehearsals, and with few breaks in the performance schedule (in Operaland, when things usually slow down a bit if only because there are often days between performances) I just never had the energy. It would be impossible to overstate what a phenomenal experience the 6 weeks were, in all ways. The cast was one of the most collegial with which it has ever been my pleasure to work; given that we were all housed on campus (some of us sharing apartments) an...

People outside the singing world often wonder exactly how one goes about preparing an operatic role. Many think that it all happens in rehearsals, yet nothing could be further from the truth! The preparation process may sometimes have begun YEARS before a role is even performed - most of us have "core repertoire" that we learn and work on even without any kind of offer in sight, the idea being to have them learned and ready to go in case somebody wants to hear them, or an oppportunity to "jump in" to a gig at the last minute emerges. A lot of time and energy goes into deciding repertoire both for auditions and "roles in preparation"; most singers have one list of "wishlist roles" (the roles they really want to sing and feel are best suited for their voices and temperament, usually the leads in operas from where their audition repertoire is drawn), and another comprised of roles they "should" know (usually easily-marketable repertoire t...

And so it's official: my local opera company which had hoped to weather the recession with the reprieve afforded by declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy announced this week that they are now filing for Chapter 7 and liquidating the company. I've been privileged to sing many supporting roles with the company over the years, and was also scheduled to sing with them this spring before they cancelled the season back in December. As any singer who has the luxury of repeatedly performing with the same company in the same theatre can tell you, there's a comfort and joy to having a 'home" house. You know the theater, and banal but practical practical matters like how to time your journies to work, where to park and how to find things backstage are second-nature and stress-free. Even the stage itself is like a longtime friend, despite the limited amount of rehearsal time in the theater itself (in many - most? - US regional houses you're frequently only in the theater itsel...

to blog anything that isn't bad news in the arts at the moment. Another regional opera company bit the dust this week and has publicly announced they are ceasing trading and I think we're all getting worn down by article after article expressing concerns over the future of the arts in general. While this last collapse didn't affect me directly, the demise of the company where I held contracts for the spring means this is now dead time for me, and I have too much time on my hands to think about it all. I have things to look forward to later in the year, but this current period is the first time in many years that I have had this much downtime between gigs and I can't deny that I miss being onstage dreadfully. As the saying goes, however, I've been "making lemonade". Without being at the mercy of the "daily schedule" (professional companies seldom give you a solid schedule more than 24hrs ahead of time, and the only BINDING schedule is the one t...

a must read article about the current state of opera. While the news is grim, I find this post far, far more realistic and hopeful than a lot of other commentary I've been reading. Here's hoping some of the views expressed are possible realities; they certainly suggest a better prognosis than the current state of affairs.

I admit it - I've felt hard done by and hard hit, and there have been times in the last days where everything seemed pretty futile. The grim news headlines are enough to make anybody want to pull the blankets over their head and stay there, and the continued bad news for us personally was getting pretty hard to weather. But this week, pinpoints of light ahead. Only small, but they're there. The first real light emerged yesterday with a small offer for the spring - it won't completely "fill the gap" left by the cancelled contracts next year, but it's an opportunity to sing wonderful music with extraordinary colleagues, and I have no doubt it will be a great experience (and a lot of fun!). I'd have been happy to do this particular gig under any circumstances, but at the moment it's particularly meaningful. Continuing to try and look at the glass half full, my audition season went well and is done for the time being (no more frantic trips up to NYC ...

It's been a tough week. The first wave of personally-affecting bad news from the economic kaboom hit not merely close to home but AT home, as my local opera company declared bankruptcy and cancelled the remainder of the 08-09 season and all future plans which sadly includes a couple of (good) contracts of mine. This has of course been bad news for me personally, but is also distressing for the longer-term impact on the local arts community, the opera industry in general and the sadness that goes with the loss of a respected institution. People are shaken, to say the least. It wasn't entirely unexpected - there'd been rumours - but it's still something of a shock. As a performer, you get used to the idea that you won't necessarily have the security of a permanent position, but once you HAVE the contract in hand for a gig, that's always felt safe. Not any more, it seems. Thinking it all through, I realise that the demise of another company away from home - ...

... following my musical theater debut! To be fair, the entire show was cast with "legit" voices (ie classically-trained), and A Little Night Music with its waltzes and "bedroom farce" moments is in many ways as close to viennese operetta as musical theater but even so - it was a first for me. I enjoyed it immensely and, while I can't ever imagine being swayed from opera forever, it was a lot of fun and certainly something I hope to do again. And what a cast! Really a pleasure. But in the light of the performances (and fatigue - this was an intense week!), there are so many jumbled thoughts in my mind as I process the differences between this experience and what I usually do, the differences in preparing and presenting dialogue, the experience of having the conductor out of sightlines during the peformances, of putting a show up - from scratch- in record time, of using my voice in a different way, of being fully mic'd...... More to come as I muse on it ...

So, last night's dress rehearsal. More of a tech dress, really, since it was the first time where we had all elements onstage - while this is theoretically a concert performance, it's a fairly elaborate semi-staged one, so it has a lot of the same complicates as a full show! One of the more thought-provoking moments was when my character - dictated by the script to be in a wheelchair - inadvertently got stranded out onstage as another scene began. What to do? As the humourous options ran through my head ("Get up?" It's a miracle! "Use my arms to push it?" Paralympics! ), the far more sobering reality of the sheer helplessness, frustration, and limitations of relying on others for everything became all-too-apparent to me. I think we all understand this intellectually, but actually living it - even onstage - was a different experience indeed. Even something as basic as finding my light - which, during a dialogue run on my own feet, I realised is som...

I love empty theaters. Don't get me wrong, I love walking on stage to a full house, but an empty stage is very special. Private. Personal. Rather like a new journal with an uncracked spine and pristine first page. For my last two productions I've been lucky enough to rehearse in the auditorium where we will be performing. This is a boon from a practical point of view in that you can space things the way they will be from the get-go (however accurately a tape-out on a rehearsal room floor has been measured, it NEVER feels the same once you get onto the 3-dimensional space the real set and proscenium create), as well as become accustomed to the acoustic and sightlines in which you will be performing. But working in the house brings more with it than just the practical matters of the physical space. Every theater in which I've ever worked has a kind of ambience to it, almost as though each prior performance has contributed its own colours to the patina of the space, and is ...

The dressing room situation for this most recent show was "basic" to say the least - one large room for all the women and, unlike larger theatres where every dressing room comprises what amounts to multiple walls of both full-length and lighted makeup mirrors, there were in fact no mirrors anywhere except those erected for the occasion by wig and makeup in their area, and a small mirror over the sink in the small, communal bathroom. Consequently, I never really caught sight of myself except in passing, and certainly not the constant reflection of my costumed self that I would have had sitting waiting for my entrances in a typical mirrored dressing room. It's only in looking at the photographs taken yesterday - and finally getting a chance to look at some of the production shots - that I realise how much I must normally be using those visual cues as part of The Process of preparing for a show, however subliminally. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm no "method...

Yet another black dress, but at least this is a pretty one! They aged me up again with makeup and wig (I'm trying to remember the last time I didn't have to be wrinkly for a show - seems to be most of the time!), but both gowns I wear are glamourous in the extreme, which is fun!

Which means (pretty much by definition), "Tired and preoccupied"! While my role in this show isn't that long as it suffered pretty substantial cuts (before I was hired - nothing to do with me or my performance, I'm relieved to note!), it's turned out to be highly physical, so my body is plain worn out! But, after feeling like I was struggling earlier in the week, at last night's piano dress (a rehearsal onstage and in costume, but with piano rather than orchestra) I finally found the "shape" that I want for the character, and it went much, much, MUCH better. Clearly Wednesday night was "That Rehearsal" and, as is always the case, the frustration and self-dissatisfaction ultimately led to finding what I need to do the job the way I want. Never a dull moment, eh?!

After a month of connection troubles we will be switching providers. We’ll see how quickly they can get us up and running, but in the meantime access is still somewhat limited (hence the sporadic posting). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A shout out to all the wonderful costumers, stitchers, tailors and wardrobe mistresses out there! My latest show involves a lot of falling down onstage and, while I’m happy to do this for the director, it was getting a little, how shall we say…. PAINFUL. I was particularly worried about the costume since I was pretty sure they would be using a dress I had worn previously which had a (very period-correct!) steel-cage petticoat to create the period look (either 17th or 18th century depending on how you want to interpret it!). (a similar shape to this drawing, but made with more narrowly-spaced and continuous rigid steel hoops - no gap at the front as drawn, but complete rings - hinged so they can move a little bit ...