Life's Precious Moments
I don't know if I've mentioned this in recent posts, but I've decided to pursue a career as an opera director. I love rehearsing, I love the attention to detail, I love the creativity, organization, and everything! I've been assistant directing at Opera McGill for almost two whole seasons now, and I will be interning at the Brevard Music Festival this summer.
That being said...
I have been in rehearsals for Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for seven hours-ish every single day since school has started. In 22 days, I will have spent over 150 hours in rehearsal alone, not counting all the work I have to do outside of rehearsal for the show. Add in school, practicing, and work, and you have one really stressed out Aria. It's the good kind of stress though. It's the kind of stress where I come home at midnight, after spending close to 14 hours at the Music Building (or work or whatever), I flop into bed, and I sleep deeply. As opposed to the stress I was experiencing in my second year of university where I would come home (after spending 14 hours etc....) and I would stare at the ceiling, or cry, or whatever. I am fulfilled, and I love it. Doesn't mean I'm not exhausted like a loon on loon-tablets though... (sorry about the double negative!).
Last night in rehearsal we were working the penultimate scene of the opera (if you don't count the epilogue, which is a weird scene for Stravinsky to throw in at the end anyway... just see the opera and you'll know what I mean). Affectionately referred to as "The Graveyard Scene", the only people in the rehearsal were the two male leads (TOMRAKEWELL, and NICKSHADOW), their covers, the DIRECTOR, the STAGE MANAGER and her assistant (ASM), the CONDUCTOR, the PIANIST, and me. Ten people total. A very small, intimate rehearsal, which as an AD I like best, because note taking is a breeze.
We were all exhausted, and had already worked the scene earlier in the week, but it was still going very slowly. CONDUCTOR had brought with him an assortment of veggies that the production team was munching on while we worked.
At some point Conductor (who I've definitely written about before concerning his divo qualities), started grueling the baritone playing Nick Shadow on the text of the scene. The opera is in English, but this guy is French Canadian, so he should have done his research.
Unfortunately, the guy hadn't done his research, and was getting a bit of a tongue lashing.
CONDUCTOR: "Why? Why don't you know what it means? We asked you to look it up, what... like two days ago?"
The word was 'urbane'. Which, honestly, even I didn't know the definition of. However, I do have the dictionary.com application for my Blackberry, so I took pity on him, and looked it up.
NICKSHADOW (reading from my phone): "It means... suave, and sophisticated."
CONDUCTOR: "Good! See, this is nothing on you. I didn't know what it meant either until I had to look it up recently. It's just that it's in the music so you should know what it means."
DIRECTOR: "Why did you have to look it up recently?"
CONDUCTOR: "Someone referred to me as 'urbane' in a review, and I thought it was an insult until I looked it up."
ME: "It does sort of sound like a slanderous word!"
DIRECTOR: "I know, right?"
It was at this point that Conductor began to choke on the carrot he was eating. He began coughing, and slamming his chest. For about fifteen seconds we all watched in horror, until finally he horked a HUGE chunk of carrot onto his score. There was a stunned silence, then he picked the piece of carrot off his music, threw it to the side and said:
CONDUCTOR: "There. I got it."
EVERYONE: "...."
ME: "...I can't wait for the day I can tell my own cast of singers of the time I saw the great [CONDUCTOR'S REAL NAME] spit up on his score...."
CONDUCTOR: "Especially after having told everyone that I was 'urbane'!"
We all laughed for about a million years until finally Director brought us back to earth by saying:
DIRECTOR: "Oooh, the irony is just delicious! Let's get back to the scene."
Moments like that should never be forgotten. They remind us all that we are human....
....and are FRICKIN' hilarious!
Kanpai!
Aria
That being said...
I have been in rehearsals for Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for seven hours-ish every single day since school has started. In 22 days, I will have spent over 150 hours in rehearsal alone, not counting all the work I have to do outside of rehearsal for the show. Add in school, practicing, and work, and you have one really stressed out Aria. It's the good kind of stress though. It's the kind of stress where I come home at midnight, after spending close to 14 hours at the Music Building (or work or whatever), I flop into bed, and I sleep deeply. As opposed to the stress I was experiencing in my second year of university where I would come home (after spending 14 hours etc....) and I would stare at the ceiling, or cry, or whatever. I am fulfilled, and I love it. Doesn't mean I'm not exhausted like a loon on loon-tablets though... (sorry about the double negative!).
Last night in rehearsal we were working the penultimate scene of the opera (if you don't count the epilogue, which is a weird scene for Stravinsky to throw in at the end anyway... just see the opera and you'll know what I mean). Affectionately referred to as "The Graveyard Scene", the only people in the rehearsal were the two male leads (TOMRAKEWELL, and NICKSHADOW), their covers, the DIRECTOR, the STAGE MANAGER and her assistant (ASM), the CONDUCTOR, the PIANIST, and me. Ten people total. A very small, intimate rehearsal, which as an AD I like best, because note taking is a breeze.
We were all exhausted, and had already worked the scene earlier in the week, but it was still going very slowly. CONDUCTOR had brought with him an assortment of veggies that the production team was munching on while we worked.
At some point Conductor (who I've definitely written about before concerning his divo qualities), started grueling the baritone playing Nick Shadow on the text of the scene. The opera is in English, but this guy is French Canadian, so he should have done his research.
Unfortunately, the guy hadn't done his research, and was getting a bit of a tongue lashing.
CONDUCTOR: "Why? Why don't you know what it means? We asked you to look it up, what... like two days ago?"
The word was 'urbane'. Which, honestly, even I didn't know the definition of. However, I do have the dictionary.com application for my Blackberry, so I took pity on him, and looked it up.
NICKSHADOW (reading from my phone): "It means... suave, and sophisticated."
CONDUCTOR: "Good! See, this is nothing on you. I didn't know what it meant either until I had to look it up recently. It's just that it's in the music so you should know what it means."
DIRECTOR: "Why did you have to look it up recently?"
CONDUCTOR: "Someone referred to me as 'urbane' in a review, and I thought it was an insult until I looked it up."
ME: "It does sort of sound like a slanderous word!"
DIRECTOR: "I know, right?"
It was at this point that Conductor began to choke on the carrot he was eating. He began coughing, and slamming his chest. For about fifteen seconds we all watched in horror, until finally he horked a HUGE chunk of carrot onto his score. There was a stunned silence, then he picked the piece of carrot off his music, threw it to the side and said:
CONDUCTOR: "There. I got it."
EVERYONE: "...."
ME: "...I can't wait for the day I can tell my own cast of singers of the time I saw the great [CONDUCTOR'S REAL NAME] spit up on his score...."
CONDUCTOR: "Especially after having told everyone that I was 'urbane'!"
We all laughed for about a million years until finally Director brought us back to earth by saying:
DIRECTOR: "Oooh, the irony is just delicious! Let's get back to the scene."
Moments like that should never be forgotten. They remind us all that we are human....
....and are FRICKIN' hilarious!
Kanpai!
Aria