Tosca has leapt to her demise for the last time.
It seems like we just opened Tosca and now it is already time to close. The fact that we only do two performances might have something to do with that. When I first came to work at OGR it struck me as very strange that we do all this work for only two performances, but then when you compare the number of seats in DeVos Hall to some of the other venues in which I’ve worked, the math comes out the same. When you only have 900 seats, you have to do twice as many performances to sell the same number of tickets as when you have 1800 seats. I believe that DeVos Hall holds over 2,000. Twice is enough for now. I’d like to have enough ticket buyers to require additional performances. Maybe someday...
Strike is my least favorite part of the opera. Not only is it a little sad because it is over, but it is also a heckuva lotta work! As soon as the final curtain falls the stage will be a veritable beehive of activity. The truck that will deliver the scenery back to Opera Omaha will already be in the loading dock. My rental truck has been there since I arrived before show time. My crew of loaders will undo everything that we did just a week ago. All the costumes will come off the performers, be sorted by the costume staff and be loaded back into their shipping containers to be returned to Utah. All the costume shop equipment—sewing machines, ironing boards, steamers, boxes of notions and threads—will be loaded into two piles. One pile is destined for the warehouse, the other will go back to the home of our costume coordinator to be stored in a more environmentally controlled and secure location.
Props will be sorted into two piles as well. One pile will be returned to Omaha with the set, the other will go back to our warehouse or to other warehouses across town belonging to other theatre companies. Thanks to Circle Theatre for the loan of the crates and table! My goal is to take no more than 3 hours to strike this opera. That would have my crew (and me) done by 1 AM. Since there are not too many props and not a whole ton of scenery, I think this is a very attainable goal.
I am very pleased with the way Tosca has turned out. I’ve been working on this opera for almost a year and it is nice to be proud of the final product. I spent the dress rehearsals dividing my time between backstage and the front of the house. I especially made a point of watching the end of Act I from the audience as often as possible. Not only is that music sublime, but the lighting and staging in that scene was gorgeous--definitely a feast for the senses. The first time I heard the music with our orchestra on Tuesday it nearly brought tears to my eyes. The piano reduction we have been working with for the past six weeks does the score no justice at all.
Of course watching that from backstage was a completely different experience. To say that the wings were full is a vast understatement. The whole chorus and all the supers all mob together off stage before entering for the procession and the big bass drum that serves as the cannon fire was positioned practically in the stage manager’s lap. Add several music stands, some chairs and a harp for the Act II banda (that is a small group of musicians who play backstage, separate from the rest of the orchestra in the pit) and there was barely room for a few props and three dressers to help with a costume quick change. We cleverly recycled Scarpia’s henchmen in the processional by quickly throwing choir robes over their heads. Thanks to the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys for the loan of 18 choir robes!
And now it is over. Tosca has leapt to her demise for the last time. All that is left are the programs, a few bits and pieces to return, the bills to pay and the fading sound of music in my ears. I will wander around for at least a week hearing bits of the score in my head constantly. I will hum it to myself as I drive or file or open the huge stack of mail that awaits me at home, but I don’t mind. There are far worse things to have wandering around in one’s brain.
And now it is high time that I turn my attention to The Elixir of Love.
Strike is my least favorite part of the opera. Not only is it a little sad because it is over, but it is also a heckuva lotta work! As soon as the final curtain falls the stage will be a veritable beehive of activity. The truck that will deliver the scenery back to Opera Omaha will already be in the loading dock. My rental truck has been there since I arrived before show time. My crew of loaders will undo everything that we did just a week ago. All the costumes will come off the performers, be sorted by the costume staff and be loaded back into their shipping containers to be returned to Utah. All the costume shop equipment—sewing machines, ironing boards, steamers, boxes of notions and threads—will be loaded into two piles. One pile is destined for the warehouse, the other will go back to the home of our costume coordinator to be stored in a more environmentally controlled and secure location.
Props will be sorted into two piles as well. One pile will be returned to Omaha with the set, the other will go back to our warehouse or to other warehouses across town belonging to other theatre companies. Thanks to Circle Theatre for the loan of the crates and table! My goal is to take no more than 3 hours to strike this opera. That would have my crew (and me) done by 1 AM. Since there are not too many props and not a whole ton of scenery, I think this is a very attainable goal.
I am very pleased with the way Tosca has turned out. I’ve been working on this opera for almost a year and it is nice to be proud of the final product. I spent the dress rehearsals dividing my time between backstage and the front of the house. I especially made a point of watching the end of Act I from the audience as often as possible. Not only is that music sublime, but the lighting and staging in that scene was gorgeous--definitely a feast for the senses. The first time I heard the music with our orchestra on Tuesday it nearly brought tears to my eyes. The piano reduction we have been working with for the past six weeks does the score no justice at all.
Of course watching that from backstage was a completely different experience. To say that the wings were full is a vast understatement. The whole chorus and all the supers all mob together off stage before entering for the procession and the big bass drum that serves as the cannon fire was positioned practically in the stage manager’s lap. Add several music stands, some chairs and a harp for the Act II banda (that is a small group of musicians who play backstage, separate from the rest of the orchestra in the pit) and there was barely room for a few props and three dressers to help with a costume quick change. We cleverly recycled Scarpia’s henchmen in the processional by quickly throwing choir robes over their heads. Thanks to the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys for the loan of 18 choir robes!
And now it is over. Tosca has leapt to her demise for the last time. All that is left are the programs, a few bits and pieces to return, the bills to pay and the fading sound of music in my ears. I will wander around for at least a week hearing bits of the score in my head constantly. I will hum it to myself as I drive or file or open the huge stack of mail that awaits me at home, but I don’t mind. There are far worse things to have wandering around in one’s brain.
And now it is high time that I turn my attention to The Elixir of Love.
posted by Cat W. at
6:00 PM
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