I just sang in the premiere of Helena on January 18, and according to some of the other singers, it was the most well-received premiere here in years. The singers were all incredible. Laura Aikin, the coloratura, was such an inspiration. She's sung everywhere, is the sweetest woman, has two adorable kids, and has a voice that doesn't have any hint of age in it and is just spectacular. The Helena, Riccarda Merbeth, also has a gorgeous instrument, but expects the world to cater to her. Throughout the rehearsal process (6 weeks), she never once acknowledged any other singer's presence, and her favorite pastime was taking off rehearsal costume pieces that she no longer needed, walking by another singer with a smaller role (like me), and dropping them into our arms, as if we were her dressers. All of this while walking forward and not looking in our direction. There was one time when she simply held out her coat in the middle of rehearsal and let it dangle from her fingers for about a minute before finally realizing no one was coming to take it from her. She huffed and laid it on the bed on stage. Needless to say, the show makes absolutely no sense, but it's beautiful to look at, and the audience cheered like crazy.
The costumes were definitely cool, even if they were a little painful. My corset one rehearsal was pulled a little too tight and for the next few days I felt like someone had kicked me repeatedly in the ribs. It's fun looking like a weird 80's rock star though!
Here I am, the pink elf. (We're not really elves, we're ladies of the night.)
The three elves.
Three elves, two maids, and Laura Aikin as Aithra.
Speaking of divas, it's been loads of fun working with Agnes Baltsa, who is singing our Clytemnestra in Elektra. She is the first superstar singer I've gotten to sing next to here (even if she is in her 60's), and she's absolutely hilarious. At the first rehearsal, we were all called at 10am, and we did nothing until 10:30am because Ms. Baltsa was telling the director everything she would NOT do. Which is basically everything. The stage is basically a pit of tiny, dusty, gray pieces of cork that everyone has to stand in at some point or other. It's smelly and gross, but oh well. Well, when Ms. Baltsa saw it, she said no, she would absolutely not walk into the stuff. Now Janice Baird, singing Elektra, has to lie in it and writhe around, and she's doing it! But no, not Agnes. Then she was told she has to carry an axe around with her. What did she say? First, in her 25 performances of this role, she has never had an axe and it's not in the character at all, and second, my personal favorite, if she were to carry an axe, that would leave only one arm left to emote, and Clytemnestra needs two arms at all times. All of her complaints were followed by her opening her mouth wide enough to swallow her head, and laughing. It was pretty funny! For the scene that I'm in as her confidante, we're up a good height above the cork, and she doesn't want to be there because it's too high and too far back. For her entrance, she is supposed to walk left, then right, then down the middle, and finally end up center to sing. No no no, she says, when I come in, I make my entrance and stay, my character would never walk across 3 times. This is not a new production, by the way, so it's not meant to be changed at all. Anyway, she's, how do you say, difficult. But at least she's fun and talks to us and doesn't toss her costume pieces towards us when she doesn't need them.
The set for Elektra, including the cork, was a complete death trap the day of the dress rehearsal. The door where we stand about 20 feet up is like a drawbridge, and the front couple of feet where we actually stand had nothing to either side except a 20 foot drop down! My hands were shaking when I was up there because I thought at any moment Ms. Baltsa would bump into me and I'd drop to my death. For the performances, they thankfully closed in the gap so I felt a lot better! The cork itself has got to be the most unsanitary substance on earth. It's from last year, was packed up in plastic bags for safekeeping until this year, and it's constantly being watered down to keep the dust level low. The bacteria levels must be off the chart!
I was lucky enough to get to sing 10 days of rehearsals of Zerbinetta since Jane Archibald was at another gig. I sang through most of the role with the conductor, and a few staging rehearsals. It was so much fun! I was sad when I had my last rehearsal, but after hearing Jane do the aria, I am so excited to see her in the role. She's incredible. The conductor, Jacques Lacombe, seemed to really like me, and mentioned to one of the staff members that we had a great backup Zerbinetta here, so that made me feel great. Hopefully, if anything goes wrong with Jane, they'll give me a call.
Carmen rehearsals just started, and even though I don't get to sing Frasquita until June, I've gotten to sing all the musical rehearsals with Yves Abel, the conductor, since the March Frasquita is currently sick. Yves is wonderful to work with, and I'm really looking forward to singing the role on stage!
It looks like I'm going to be in another premiere now, which isn't making me too happy. I had a relatively free mid-February through mid-April, and I put in for some vacation time so that I can do auditions and maybe even take a little vacation. The forms were signed, the time off was approved, and two days after I got the forms back, Herr Seuferle popped into one of my rehearsals and told me that even though he signed my forms, he was going to need me to be in the premiere of Respighi's Marie Victoire due to his miscasting a mezzo in a soprano role and only now realizing it. It opens April 9 and will have 6 weeks of rehearsal, and even though it's always nice to get more stage time, I'm a little annoyed. I'm only in one act and I have about 5 lines, and it's a role that's unimportant in an opera that I will never be singing again. At least if it were something useful I'd feel less annoyed about giving up my vacation/audition time. I told him that I really needed to be available for auditions during the time of the rehearsals and performances, so I will be sharing the role with another soprano who can't make all the performances but can be there for the rehearsal period. I did have every right to say no since I already had the forms signed to be gone, but I do appreciate everything he's done for me, and I really want him on my side if potential employers call him to ask about me.
All in all, I've just been super busy since the new year started, and it looks like I'm going to stay that way for the next few months. If I can sneak in and get pictures of the Elektra set and cork, I will, but no promises.
Hope you're enjoying the cold weather more than I am! Brrrr.
