It's the day of the show, y'all....

Tonight's the big night.  We are opening Nozze tonight at the Barre Opera House in Barre, Vermont with the Green Mountain Opera Festival.  

It has been a fun journey putting this together, and I look forward to telling this story this weekend.  The action takes place over the course of one day, but it is a lot of life to live in three hours.  

So who is this guy Figaro?  What does he want? Does he get it? These are questions I ask every time I start rehearsing a new production, and I ask them again as we put it together, and yet again when I am putting on my costume.  I'm not sure I know the answers completely (I mean how could I? Do any of us really know that info about ourselves? Maybe you do.  I don't).  What I do know is that the Big Fig spends an awful lot of the opera just trying to get married.  In every appearance up to the wedding scene he unveils a new scheme to accomplish this goal.  He is madly in love with Susanna.  He has to be, right?  She is the only one in the opera who is smarter than he is, and she is his partner in every way.  I feel like the conflict he faces in the opera is reconciling the two sides of his nature; the one that loves and cares for Susanna unequivocally (the sensitive-new-age Figaro), and the hot-headed guy who sees deception everywhere, even in his bride-to-be (frat boy Figaro?).  The former side is an alternative to the Count, and the latter is his doppelgänger.  I think in a lot of ways this opera (at least for Fig) is about his evolution and self-realization;  when he puts his doubts aside and unequivocally accepts Susanna as his partner, he becomes ready to be her husband, and he is redeemed by her love.  The virtue of forgiveness and the redemption of the men in this opera by the women in this opera is an overarching theme.  I think it eclipses the class conflict theme (more dominant in the play) by about a zillion percent.  

In acting class you talk about where your character's center is- their head, heart, lower, etc. I picture Figaro's center is in Susanna, and the opera is about how he finds his center.

And the music is pretty good too.  But I digest....

This has been a very gratifying experience as an artist.  I didn't expect this tiny, tucked-away company in the middle of Vermont to be such a rich environment, with the kind of artistic give and take that at once energizes and recharges our spirits.  I guess that's high-falutin' blogspeak for awesomeness.  Hats off to the artistic director Taras Kulish, our director Ellen Schlaefer, the Maestro Jacques LaCombe, and the intensely talented cast and crew.  

My heart is in Milwaukee this morning celebrating 50 years of the Skylight.  Let's hope it has 50 more.  

AW

Our final dress was last night.  We had a small student audience, which was nice.  It's great to get some energy back from the audience (especially when I'm singing directly to them during my act IV aria).  I think we are in good shape.  This has been a really special experience for me, and I am full of gratitude for this cast, this company, this production.  I'm looking forward to making some good music and some good komedy laughs this weekend.  On the technical tip, I felt much better about last night than our first orchestra dress.  I've come to realize (and embrace) the fact that I'm just plain tired in Act IV and Aprite is a damn hard aria to sing.  I will keep fighting the good fight, but I'm going to stop obsessing about it and just enjoy it.  I've learned a few things during this process, and that's a good thing.  More on that later. 

Here is a fun video about our production from a local arts blog.  This is where I first heard the "opera singers as mythical creatures" idea.  Also, my friend Adriana invokes the great Jack Tripper (reinforcing my "what would John Ritter do?" character-building technique).  

PS- I look like Chris Farley.  Time to go back to the gym I guess.  Or maybe lay off the Vermont maple syrup.  

The media firestorm in Milwaukee continues over the firing of Bill Theisen.  There is some intelligent discourse happening here:

Artsy Schmartsy

Tom Strini's blog

I'm proud of my friends in Milwaukee who are taking ownership of their theatre community and making their voices heard, especially Jamie Johns.  The Skylight has been an artistic home for me for the last 10 years, and they have always welcomed me into the fold as though I were a local artist.  I sincerely hope they can work through this debacle.  

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Tutto è tranquillo e placido

We had our final rehearsal room run-through last night.  After a short notes session this morning, we have the rest of the day and tomorrow off.  It's good we're getting a little break.  It's sort of the calm before the storm, because starting Monday we're going to have some late nights.  The opera house is located in a town called Barre (pronounced "Barry") about 45 minutes away.  There's a sitz + tech on Monday, and orchestra dresses Tues and Wed.  So it's good we will start the week rested (actually, we will probably take this time off to stay up way too late, drink too much beer and play too much pool. At least I know I will.  Hey, it's science).

I think we are in good shape with the show.  It is a total joy to sing this piece with such a seasoned group of colleagues.  I feel like I'm in a pretty decent place vocally as well- better off than last time.  We'll see once we get in the actual house with the orchestra, but I think I've made a few adjustments that will allow me to sing this role at less cost than last time.  The challenge I'm encountering is that I have the sensation of less local control when I sing.  That's tricky to get used to.  It's much less micro-managerial (and probably more rewarding to the listener) and also much easier, but when you're used to controlling and manipulating to a certain degree, it's tough to let go.  There are a few coordination issues.  The role lives so much in the middle voice, that suddenly an E flat is a high note (at least in the grand scheme of things), and feels like what an F would feel like in a more baritonal tessitura.  So that's weird.  The plus side is that I'm not darkening the lower middle anymore, so it's about a zillion times easier to sing down there and I don't get super tired halfway through the piece.  Plus, the Dalai Lama told me that when I die, on my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness.  So I got that going for me, which is nice. 

I've also noticed that I'm a tremendous slouch.  Even while wearing my rehearsal shoes (they are really cool period shoes with a chunky heel), I stand like I'm a standing-in-front-of-the-QuickStop-slacker, and not an 18th century valet to a Count.  I'm looking forward to being in costume and the inevitable change in character and posture that will take place.  I'm pretty confident all the earthy, goofy, stupid Ritter-esque crap I am doing will still come through, but it will be filtered through a period costume and stance.  

Yesterday, I gave a short little interview for a local video arts blog.  I'll post it as soon as it is available.  She asked me what did I think Mozart would think of us if he stopped by rehearsal.  The first thing that came to mind was, "well, he would probably say, 'holy crap! what are all those shiny metal boxes careening down the street at an alarming rate?'" That's the kind of highly articulate commentary I bring to the industry.  She also said that one of the local Vermonters (Vermont-ites? Vermont-ians?) said that he thought opera singers are like mythical creatures.  That we are seemingly normal beings, but then unleash these big crazy voices on everyone.  I like that.  Andrew Wilkowske, mythical creature.  It may have to go on my resume.  Hey, it's better than the whole baritone/bass-baritone conundrum.  

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