(This started out as a comment in response to Mme A’s questions in the comments of the last two Volpone posts, but it got a bit long-winded for the comments’ section… So, pardon us while we talk fashion for a bit…)
Mme A, I prefer to live in dresses in the summer (I can’t stand sticky clothes in the heat!), so come spring, I'm constantly on the lookout for cute things. This spring in New York I scored some incredible pieces, including this kelly green number. I swear it was delivered to the wrong store: it is of exceptional quality but I found it in a cheap teeny (as in teenager-y) boutique near NYU! Truly the score of the century.
My closet these days is filled about 50/50 with clothes from boutiques and clothes from places like Ross or Filene’s Basement. It’s tempting to tell everyone just how much of a bargain I got when they compliment a dress, but I’m trying to get over that! If they want to think I paid $200 for that fabulous green dress, let them! I do have two non-wrap dresses from butter by nadia (in addition to the two Signature Wrap dresses Nadia gave us for the recital); those weren’t cheap (although they were inexpensive – there’s a difference!), but they were worth it.
(Side note: I wore my dark purple wrap dress for the “Death by Aria” concert on Saturday, and by the time I went home, I’d wrapped it three different ways! Empire waist with sleeves for the concert, dropped waist and sleeveless for dinner after, and then strapless, just to show that it could be done! [All the changes made in the bathroom, of course; no public demonstrations…] The women with me were astounded, and I hope I drummed up a bit more business for Nadia.)
As for dressing up for the Sitz, I'm not sure where that started. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we wear “work clothes” for rehearsals, meaning, things we can get down and dirty in. In a show like Volpone, there was a lot of running around, falling down, and bruising of legs in rehearsals, so we didn’t often feel “pretty.” (I still often wore a dress, but added shorts underneath for modesty and a long rehearsal skirt over top to help get used to doing the crazy moves in costume. That got hot…) But when all we have to do is sit (or stand) and sing, it feels nice to dress it up a bit.
Anyone else? Any ideas on why we dress up for the Sitzprobe?
4 comments:
How funny! I only see the singers at the sitz and then in costume for everything else. I just assumed singers ALWAYS dress up, since they are dressed so nicely for the sitz. :-)
I dress up for the sitz out of respect for the orchestra. What we do is not equal without them, and it feels more important when we all finally come together, and I try to honor that. Best to all my friends at Wolf Trap!!
Okay, that's it.
I'm gettin' me one of them butter by Nadia dresses.
Thanks for answering all my non-essential urgent questions.
Hey, ACB. Do you know if Nadia makes plus sized dresses? I could make very good use out of a dress that versatile.
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