Full steam ahead

Dear friends:

The show’s going well in Dayton. The Figaro is so dreamy, I just can’t stand it! This is the best Figaro EVER and did I mention that the Figaro is really good?!?

Ok, so the above paragraph was dictated by Andrew Garland, my fabulous Figaro here in Dayton. (I’ve been lucky enough to have back-to-back fabulous Figaro’s!) We are all here at “our coffeeshop,” on a break after a very useful rehearsal in which we all ran through our recitatives, working to get the flow going and to get past the “what words and notes am I supposed to sing here?” stage to “let’s communicate and tell a story here!”

I have to say, the hardest part of learning this role in two months has been really getting the language into my head, getting past the long-vowels and double-consonants stage. With Susanna, I carried around those papers with my texts on them for weeks - months, even - until I knew my lines forward and back. It’s been a bit of cram this time around… I finally had to just let go of the thinking and jump to the feeling. Once I put my book or my cheat sheets down, I’m free to really connect with my colleagues on-stage, to find the natural connection of one line to the next, rather than just trying to remember what comes next!

I’m also still building the character - who is Rosina? I’m going to write a post exclusively on this topic to cross post over on the DO blog, but I will say here that it has been a real challenge to get Mozart’s Countess out of my mind. (The Countess in Nozze is Rosina, five years or so after the events of Barber take place…) The way we have the finale of Barber staged, there is even a moment of staging that is a “flash forward” to a moment in Nozze; I find the (unintentional) symmetry beautiful.

Today: an afternoon working session, hitting on some things in Act I that need finesse, and then tonight we “stumble through” the show. A day off tomorrow, then another stumble through on Saturday morning and the Sitz Saturday afternoon. I can not wait to get with the orchestra for this one!

A teaser: by the end of the 08-09 season, I will have repeated a role!! Boy, am I ever looking forward to that experience...

Adolescence

So. How’s the language going, you’re asking? Well, after a great coaching last week, the things that everyone else I’ve worked on this with finally clicked into place. I’ve been getting the same notes over the past few months, you see – brighter vowels, shorter final consonants, find the direction of the phrase – but sometimes I guess I need to hear things a few times, and practice them often, before they become automatic.

CL’s most valuable piece of advice for me was to make the verbs my focus in the recit. Obvious, right? Why would I stress the word “che” (that) when the word “diedi” (gave) is so much more essential to the meaning of the sentence? When focusing on the verbs, the natural flow of the language comes out and all those little notes and rhythms fall naturally into place. Easy! (It really does feel easier this way; I felt so labored before I figured this one out.)

Another note I’m still working on is final syllables. Make a longer vowel on the first syllable, give a good double consonant if there is one (as do most of the words I have this issue with), and just barely touch the final syllable. This one isn’t quite organic yet, but I’m practicing. If you see me walking down 9th Ave mumbling to myself, I’m working on my final syllables…

I got to sing my aria yesterday since we worked through Acts III and IV in cover staging rehearsal. (An aria! Alone on stage!! Pinch me!!!) We’ve also blocked the recits, which is giving me time to play with my physical characterization of Barbarina. She’s supposed to be young, and, well, I’m kind of on the tall side. Since I don’t automatically look like a child due to my size, I’m trying to make her exceptionally awkward. Gangly, fidgety, but! She still has to be sweet and attractive enough that Cherubino and even the Count want to spend time alone with her… So maybe my Barbarina isn’t 12 or 13; maybe she’s 14 or 15. Hmmm, tall, gangly, awkward yet flirty 14-year-olds… add seriously frizzed out hair and you’ve pretty much got me in junior high!

I’m having fun working with KL and the rest of the cover cast. Some of them will carry over into the November cast, so we’re all in this boat for the long haul. Great people.

Today: Macbeth musical rehearsal. It will be fun to see MG again; can’t wait to sit and listen to this wonderful opera for a few hours. Then Figaro final dress tonight! Should be an exciting evening…