2014 Greater Colorado Tour – Day 4
Something happened this morning that has never happened
before on our annual Greater Colorado Tour. I’m not sure how it happened
exactly. I mean, I planned ahead so that, in case it happened, we’d be OK, but
I didn’t actually think it was really in the realm of possibility. Readers… I
slept until 9:15am.
Everyone gets up at their own pace today. It’s a real
luxury. The morning unfolds slowly and we’re without anywhere to be, so we take
advantage of it. Everyone spends some time outside and then Louise and Taylor
decide to go for a run. After providing the required lecture on being careful
when running at high altitude and the bear safety talk (which Brett was not in
favor of as he wants to see a bear, even offered to put a steak on our front
porch last night), the pair head off. Our host, John Smith, went to the grocery
and left a bag of provisions for us in the cabin. Colleen, looking every inch
the kitchen goddess, decides to make breakfast for the rest of us. She cooks, I
clean - soon I’m up to my elbows in soap bubbles.
After breakfast, Taylor and Louise return looking a teeny
bit winded. Apparently the last hill was a doozy. I get some work done while the
others read, rest or watch T.V. Jared takes a walk as does Ben a bit later.
Jared actually had a deer cross right in front of him on his foray. The sun is
shining today and it’s partly cloudy and a little windy. Still a beautiful day
though and the sun shining on the water makes it look likes its turquoise.
Sitting on the back porch, Brett and I discuss the finer points of thinking
about not thinking (which was much more intellectual than it sounds).
Jared returns
from his walk and joins us outside and we just sit quietly, enjoying the
scenery. It’s at this precise moment that the wildlife gets a little too wild.
The calm, serene setting is shattered. Brett dodges; I fold into a ball and
cover my eyes. Jared uses his cat-like reflexes. We’re evading a very
aggressive humming bird. I love hummingbirds, but this vile little create was
really after us. In all the commotion, Jared manages to pop his shoulder out of
the socket. No joke. He also manages to quickly pop it back in. He’s OK but in
a lot of pain. For a minute I thought I might have socked him in the face in my
attempt to avoid the winged missile, but thankfully I didn’t. With ⅓ of us
felled by a hummingbird with anger issues, we decide to move inside.
From the kitchen I hear an announcement that it’s sandwich
time. Ben and Louise are feeling peckish and have decided to eat in. Colleen says
she’s not hungry just yet. Taylor, Brett and Jared join me in heading into town
for lunch. We choose the Cannibal Grill – named for the infamous Alfred Packer
who made history in these parts for something… interesting. Look it up readers,
it really is part of Colorado history. We’re waited on by a very lovely lady
with a wonderful, bubbly personality. When she asks if we’re just visiting, we
give our tour talk and she’s over the moon. She knows all about our performance
tonight and is full of questions. It’s so cool to see people this honestly
enthusiastic about opera. Just further proves that this is a living, breathing,
relevant art form.
We head back to the cabin after lunch and our morning of
leisure is officially over. We have to get ready for tonight’s show. I have the
Young Artists sit at the dining room table and drill their Shakespeare dialogue
and narration for Romeo and Juliet,
we fix the mistakes and then I plan the repertoire for the Arias & Ensembles portion. We get packed up with what we’ll
need for the rest of the day and head into town. Arriving at the theater, we
find it already open for us. We switch the set over from Barber to Romeo and Juliet
and spike all of the set pieces. Now it’s time for me, as the director, to
finally face the music. I can’t put it off any longer. I have to figure out how
the death scene is going to work with the whole “no tomb” thing. Many options
are presented to me, but after trying several things, I decide to use the bench
from the Barber of Seville, cover it
with a sheet and have Colleen lay on that. We’ll cover her with a veil and it
will look beautiful. Her feet are going to hang off the end so it’s not going
to be comfortable for her, but it’s what we can make work and it’s not for an
overly long period of time. Our group… professionals every one of them; always
ready to pull together and represent Opera Colorado in the finest manner.
Now that one problem is solved, I have a few more to
address. The stage is too small for us to use our balcony so I have Brett play
his aria and dialogue from the floor and stairs and Colleen will be on the
stage. The fight scene is a real concern with Jared’s shoulder. Fight
choreography is an art. Every move is like a dance and it has to go right for
the audience to believe it’s real but keep the performers absolutely safe. When
you have someone with an injury, it can set the entire thing out of balance.
So, working with Ben and Jared, we replace a few of the moves with something
that will look great, but keep Jared from putting too much strain on his
shoulder. I think we’re good to go.
We run a few pieces for the A&E portion of the program
and then it’s time to head to dinner. We’re being hosted at the school again
this evening. We meet two fabulous ladies, Rachel and Cathy; they’ve prepared
roasted chicken, a broccoli and spinach casserole, fresh fruit salad and
something smothered in chocolate (Louise is already beaming).
It’s all
wonderful and we again feel extremely grateful to have a home-cooked meal. We
have the chance to visit with our hosts, one of whom is a teacher at the
school. She’s absolutely thrilled that her students had the opportunity to
attend yesterday’s performance and is bringing her 90-year old mom to tonight’s
show. She tells us that for her, this kind of opportunity, to see live opera in
her own town, is more meaningful that we know. She says if Opera Colorado
didn’t do this, go on tour; many of the people she knows would never have the
chance to experience opera. She hit the nail on the head – it’s a big part of
why we do this.
Time to head back to the theater and get ready for the show.
We thank our gracious hostesses and go into production mode. This really is a
thing for performers. You go into a different zone mentally. Everyone gets
their costumes and props prepped and we change into our A&E attire. The
audience begins to arrive and we wait backstage, listening to them on the
intercom system. They are an excited group, which we love. Our host, John Smith
begins the evening with a some announcements and says a few words about Opera
Colorado and our relationship with Lake City. His remarks are so heartfelt
about what this means to their community, that honestly, my eyes are brimming.
It won’t be the last time that happens this evening. John introduces me and I
come out to talk with the audience and get the A&E portion of the evening
started.
We open with an unexpected piece, something from Spamalot. It’s a conscious choice I
make; I do this because I want to catch people off guard. This piece is funny
and it helps the audience relax and realize that we want them to have fun
tonight. It works like a charm. The audience is laughing like crazy and you can
feel the energy in the room shift and center around the stage. We offer some
pieces from our 2014-2015 season to plug what we’re doing and let folks know
that we want them to come see us in Denver too. The Magic Flute gets a big response. While Jared is on stage, the
other Young Artists have some fun backstage. Seems being this close to props
and costumes is just too big of a temptation. Brett becomes a pirate, Louise is
some sort of trekker in the Australian Outback, Colleen is part bride, part
church lady and Ben… well Ben has a moment with the king himself.
Yes, that’s right, Elvis is in the building.
The first part of the program done, I join everyone on stage to say a few very special “thank you’s.” To John, Dan, Shawn, Cathy and Rachel – thank you for everything you’ve done to make our visit to Lake City so wonderful. You’ve welcomed us, housed us, provided us with everything we needed to perform and even made sure we ate well. We appreciate it more than we can say.
With that, I announce intermission and it’s time to get into
costume for Romeo and Juliet. This is
a really fast transition, so we have to be on our game. I’m still a bit
concerned about the fight scene but I have to trust them to be the
professionals that they are. We get the cue from Dan, and we begin the second
half of the evening. I again go out and talk to the audience to start things
off, then I give the stage to Ben. I sit backstage and begin working on the day’s
blog while the performance goes on. I can hear everything over the intercom and
I wait for the moment at the beginning of the show that will tell me if we have
our audience with us or not… and we do. We get a huge laugh at the exact spot
we want it. I know that it’s going to be a really good show.
Good show does not = smooth show. There are issues; there
always are in live performance. You deal with them as best you can and keep
going. At one point in the show, Louise forgets that she has a scene as the
Nurse and changes into her costume for Stephano. Jared notices and Louise does
the fastest costume re-change that I have ever seen. It’s like she has superpowers
or something. Later in the show, there are some missed lines and musical
mistakes, but they’re covered well due in large part to Taylor. He’s amazing at
staying with the Young Artists at every moment. If something happens, he
catches it and somehow makes it work. As a singer, it’s one of the most
important things you look for in an accompanist. You know they have your back
and you can trust them to support you. Ten points awarded to Mr. Taylor Baldwin
(who, by the way, hasn’t avalanche clapped once all day).
We get to the final scene, the death scene. Somehow, the
veil never gets onstage to cover Colleen, but I doubt anyone in the audience
noticed. They are entirely focused on the story unfolding on stage. I can hear
sniffles from backstage, which means they are emotionally invested in what we’re
doing. This scene is really intense for Brett and Colleen. It requires an
enormous amount from them mentally, emotionally and even physically. Tonight,
they don’t hold back. It’s beautifully done. I can’t even see them, but by
Colleen’s final line, I am holding back tears myself. After the final dialogue,
the audience is silent. Then the applause begins. Then the cheers, the
whistles; the standing ovation. They’ve earned it – well done everyone. I go
out to give the Young Artists a chance to catch their breath and grab a drink
of water. I take this opportunity to make sure that Taylor gets the applause
that he deserves and then I bring everyone back out.
Q&A sessions with adult audiences usually last about
15-minutes. We spend the next 35-minutes answering questions from this
audience. It’s fabulous. The focus is on the art form and making opera your
career. We get to really shine a spotlight on Opera Colorado. John ends the
Q&A with another heartfelt speech about why this matters for Lake City and
I echo it with why it matters for us as well. We bid our audience goodnight and
begin the task of loading out not one show, but two – Barber from yesterday and Romeo
and Juliet from tonight.
We’re tired. Even though we had the morning to relax, it’s
now after 10:00pm and we’ve got a good hour of work ahead of us. Everyone just
pitches in and we get it done. With load out complete, we thank Dan, the king
of everything, one more time and say our goodbyes. We head back to the cabin.
The stars out here are amazing – what you can see without the city lights. We
don’t turn the lights on right away in the cabin so we can fully appreciate
what we’re looking at. But, we can’t stay out too long. It’s chilly and we have
a drive ahead of us tomorrow when we’ll stop in Paonia for our next two Romeo and Juliet performances.
Today may not have been as silly as other days on tour this
week. Sure, there was laughter, but there was also some quiet time and quite a
bit of work. Every day is different and that’s part of what makes this career
exciting. There’s always some new challenge; something that you’re working
towards. Now though, it’s time to call it a night.
Hope you have a great one readers – ‘till tomorrow,
Cherity
No comments:
Post a Comment