Just when I thought the summer was ending, I flew to Houston. They're rationing water (they're apparently about 40 inches short this year) and have had around 50 days this summer over 100 degrees, including all three days I've been here. Luckily, my host family has A/C, and so does the theater. And speaking of weather, just in case you were wondering, the hurricane put downtown Mt. Holly under water, but not my house. It made my marigolds very happy, though.
I've spent the last couple of months really working on Marie in Daughter of the Regiment, and I have to say, there's no way I could get through this role without my teacher, Lindsey Christiansen. Every lesson I had, she fixed something major that I just couldn't sing without doing. It's both a scary and a great feeling to leave a lesson knowing that if I hadn't gone, I'd have some serious hold-ups. Good news is, after the first few lessons of fixing everything, the last lesson I had was the perfect ending where I was told everything sounded much better. I'm still working on the technical stuff, but it's starting to feel a lot more natural.
So, I left for Houston on Tuesday, and moved in with my lovely hosts, Mike and Pat Journeay. They have a gorgeous house and I have the whole upstairs to myself. They love to travel, and the house is full of artwork and souvenirs from all of the countries they've lived in and visited. Mike builds houses for a living, and he built this one eight years ago to look like an older style house - high ceilings, hardwood floors, crown moulding, etc. It's 18 steps up to my room, which should tell you how high the ceilings are. It's really stunning. They also like to cook, and I have a standing invitation to join them for dinner when I'm not stuck in a rehearsal during that time. And they only live two blocks from the theater. I couldn't have gotten more lucky!
We had our first rehearsal last night. My cast sang through Act I and the other cast sang through Act II. The singers are all wonderful, and very friendly. Best of all, everyone appears to have excellent French, so I don't think we'll be in need of too many grueling dialogue rehearsals. My tenor, David Robinson, sounded wonderful despite being jet-lagged (he flew in a couple of days ago from Vienna, where he currently lives). I was told by a colleague this summer that the bass, Stefano di Peppo, was terrific, and he certainly lives up to his reputation. The other Marie is tiny, but has a big bright voice, and a high E-flat that I would kill for.
Today I had a private coaching with the conductor. He is very clear and easy to work with. He seems very impressed with my legato line (thanks, Mrs. Christiansen!) and overall musicality. Tonight, we're rehearsing a few scenes between the tenor, the bass, and me.
It appears that the opera will be coming together quite quickly. We have a basic schedule for the month, and assuming we stay on schedule, we're having a stumble-through with the lighting crew next Thursday. We don't start staging until this weekend, and we have Monday off, so that doesn't leave us much time to stage the entire opera. The good thing is that while I was in Berlin, I grew accustomed to short rehearsal periods. Hope I can remember a few things!
I'll post again soon once we get deeper into rehearsals. Wish me luck!
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