A new trick

Today, we had a pair of three-hour staging rehearsals with an hour lunch break in between. Those seven hours just flew by. I always come home with a story, don't I? Well, today the director asked one of my castmates to drag me upstage as part of our drunken pre-execution revelry. I don't think he knew it, but he couldn't have picked a better person to do the dragging. Bryan is certified in stage fighting (or something like that), so he shared with me some of the basics. There are clever techniques for making it look like you're being jerked around even though you're really in control. So, although I'm not in control of the direction or speed of the dragging, I am in control of the physical contact so that I'm not in any danger of dislocating a shoulder or anything, despite the complaints of the stage manager that she was afraid I was going to get hurt. I guess that just means we're convincing! I enjoyed learning how to pull that off.

Naturally, after a long day of rehearsal like this, I've got Pearl Fishers perpetually stuck in my head. The good news is that every time I notice this, it's a different scene that's running through my mind.

This evening, my family took me to Benihana for my birthday, and I had a great time. I love watching them turn cooking into a spectator sport. :-)

The fun continues

I continue to be amazed by the variety and extent of talent I am surrounded with. And everyone is so friendly and interesting to talk to, too! I am having such a great time working on this production and will be very depressed when it's over, I expect. Fortunately, there will be Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and NATS auditions to take my mind off of it...!

Tonight I was asked to stay late, along with 9 other members of the chorus, to stage an additional scene. It's a very short scene, but as a relatively new member of the chorus, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do a little something extra.

Also, quite unexpectedly, tonight they announced that they are giving us tomorrow night off, so suddenly I am free on my birthday. The break will give me a chance to rest up for the 6 hours of rehearsal on Saturday.

2nd Staging Rehearsal

The 2nd Pearl Fishers staging rehearsal tonight was another adventure, and I mean that in a good way. Tonight we added the dancers to the picture, and this made all the difference in the world. Not only are the dancers immensely talented, but the choreography is very sensual and exciting and really heightens the excitement of the scenes in which they participate. It's neat to have so many different kinds of talent together in one production. The dancers have expressed their amazement at our singing, and the singers are in awe of the dancers. The principals are also excellent and wonderful to work with. They are all very down to earth, friendly individuals who interact freely with the chorus rather than looking down on us. It's a very collegial environment, which is making the process even more fun than I had anticipated. It is definitely hard work, though, no doubt about it!

Is this legal?

Tonight was the first staging rehearsal for The Pearl Fishers. It was a lot of fun. As one of the younger-looking women in the chorus, I have been assigned to play the role of the girlfriend of one of the rookie pearl fishers who is to be blessed at the opening ceremony. The supernumerary who is playing this particualar pearl fisher happens to be 16 years old. I have found it surprisingly challenging to play a giddy girl and spend a whole scene flirting with a teenager little more than half my age, but Eric reminds me that this is an indication that I have a long career ahead of me...! It's funny...age 16 doesn't seem all that long ago until you're standing next to a 16-year-old realizing how little you have in common with him. But I'm too focussed on myself, huh? I mean, this poor kid has to flirt with someone nearly twice his age. Imagine the conversation he had with his mom when he got home!

Spoiler

Being a musician, I naturally had a handful of conversations with my music friends & colleagues about the musical numbers at the inauguration on Tuesday. Among these was a conversation about how the instrumentalists in the Williams piece played in the cold without damaging their priceless instruments. My friend came back to me today with the answer to our question: they didn't. The music was pre-recorded.

While JPL and I were breathing a sigh of relief at this news, others were having fits about it: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/23/the-milli-vanilli-inauguration/ Their primary complaint is that those involved apparently tried to keep it a secret that the music was pre-recorded.

Personally, I'm not upset that they tried to keep it a secret and I don't really understand why others are. The piece was still legitimately composed, prepared and performed expressly for the inauguration by the parties credited for it. I think most people are happier just not knowing it wasn't a live performance. It's a legitimate case of "what the public doesn't know won't hurt them." Not knowing any better, they just enjoyed the music for what it was and allowed it to enhance their "inaugural experience". Why spoil it for them? What is gained by announcing that it was pre-recorded? Nothing. What is lost by keeping it secret? Nothing. It's music, it's entertainment. It's not a competition, it's not politics and it doesn't hurt anyone in any way. Honestly, sometimes I think people are just looking for reasons to be offended.

Wish granted! But...

Yes! The UNITED TOUR is coming to Colorado!! The United Tour is Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman on a concert tour together. They started it in the fall (and that was all they planned for), but they had only 2 concerts west of the Mississippi, and none in Colorado, so I was really bummed. But I just read that they've extended the tour and they're coming to Colorado Springs on April 14th! :-)

Slight problem... the concert is on a Tuesday night, which means it conflicts with choir practice. This wouldn't phase me in the least except that I'm currently missing six rehearsals in a row to sing with the Opera Colorado Chorus in The Pearl Fishers. I haven't missed that many rehearsals in the last few years combined, and we'll be only a few weeks out from our concert of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis, which is a no small piece. Our director is not going to consider a Christian CCM concert to be a legitimate excuse to miss yet another rehearsal. Not entirely sure what I should do.

AOL Meltdown?

Wow, I'm really glad I moved my website back in February. I have kept a few files on my aol server since that time, mostly pages with forwarding code to direct folks with old links to the new site... never a bad idea when your website has been at the same URL for 13 years... so I went to look at one of those files today, and it was gone! It had been replaced by a letter from AOL, and I kid you not, this is the letter I found in its place, verbatim:

Dear AOL Hometown User,
We're sorry to inform you that as of Oct. 31, 2008, AOL® Hometown was shut down permanently. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Sincerely,
The AOL Hometown Team

Naturally, this posting was followed by several comments from irate customers wanting to know where their website went and how to get their files back so they could move them to a new hosting account. Yes, that's right... AOL didn't tell any of their customers they were shutting it down until it had already happened, so all of their customers lost all of their data! Now the smart ones, like me, will have their html files backed up on at least one home computer, but there is quite a handful that are cursing AOL because they have to rewrite their websites from scratch!

Upon further pondering, this makes me wonder if my email address is in jeopardy, too. This would not be good. My website users have had nearly a year to find my new website with direction from the old URL, but a similar obliteration of my email account with no time to update the world (i.e. friends, clients, newsletters, creditors, other online accounts, etc.) would be quite frustrating, indeed. Hmmm.... it might be time to consider moving my email address to ellieseligmann.com, too.

Rehearsals start next week

Rehearsals for Opera Colorado's The Pearl Fishers begin Monday. We'll rehearse 4-6 days a week until the show opens on Valentine's Day. I've been looking over the music, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Evening shows are Feb 14, 17 & 20, and there is a matinee performance on Feb. 22nd, in case anyone is interested in coming.