Dress rehearsal & costumes
Arrived home last night feeling absolutely wrung dry after the orchestral dress. Not really sure why as the chorus are not on stage that much: a lot of the time was spent hanging about "backstage" (ie behind the large silver tent containing the stage) trying to discourage tourists on the walkway above from shouting comments on our costumes during the performance. They are pretty good - apart from the 30s evening gowns we were kitted out in when I did Poppea at college, this is the first time I've had proper period costumes (though more knowledgable types pointed out some anachronistic Elizabethan dresses slipping in). When I tried on the full kit during the first week of rehearsal I was only interested in getting it off as fast as possible before I suffocated: last night was really pretty chilly so it was quite comfortable to wear the weight equivalent of about 4 blankets draped around me. (Except when negotiating the loo, which was leaking.)
Anticlimax in that a lot of the players (the Philharmonia - making a very good sound as you'd expect) went home at the interval on the feeble grounds that it was too cold to play and they were worried that their instruments would get rained on. Second half was therefore pretty hair-raising musically as lots of key woodwind cues, in particular, were missing. We also had to cut off the final 5-10 minutes (climactic aria for Anne Boleyn, everyone led off to be excecuted) as we were running late and the orchestra were about to go into overtime, bankrupting the production at a stroke... I'd been working myself up into a frenzy of simulated grief for the last 20mins or so, so it felt very odd.
However K was there and claimed to really enjoy it. In fact I sometimes lose sight of the fact that this is a bloody good show: just hope it won't tip it down on the Gala Opening Night on Wednesday.
Anticlimax in that a lot of the players (the Philharmonia - making a very good sound as you'd expect) went home at the interval on the feeble grounds that it was too cold to play and they were worried that their instruments would get rained on. Second half was therefore pretty hair-raising musically as lots of key woodwind cues, in particular, were missing. We also had to cut off the final 5-10 minutes (climactic aria for Anne Boleyn, everyone led off to be excecuted) as we were running late and the orchestra were about to go into overtime, bankrupting the production at a stroke... I'd been working myself up into a frenzy of simulated grief for the last 20mins or so, so it felt very odd.
However K was there and claimed to really enjoy it. In fact I sometimes lose sight of the fact that this is a bloody good show: just hope it won't tip it down on the Gala Opening Night on Wednesday.