Facilitating The Artistic Genius

My job at varying times is to lead, follow and get out of the way.

People who are new to the performing arts are always startled when I tell them that I am paid not to have an artistic agenda. My job is to leave the art up to the Artistic Director, the Staging Director, the Music Director and any number of the Designers whom I hire and assist. I take their ideas and desires and analyze them, deconstruct them and then report my findings. My goal is to make the scope of my advice to these people purely economic and logistic—Choice X costs less than Choice Y. We cannot afford Choice Z at all. Choice A will not fit into DeVos Hall as it is designed, but if we make these changes it will. Choice B is not available during our production period—and so forth. Don’t get me wrong; I have some fairly strong artistic opinions, but it is not my job to express them. My job is to facilitate. I have worked on some operas that I have disliked intensely, but they were successful in that the final product was exactly what the directors and designers wanted and envisioned. My taste has absolutely nothing to do with the process. They lead, I follow.

This week begins the work in earnest on the Elixir of Love. While I was busy with Tosca, the Artistic Director, Staging Director and Scenic Designer were collaborating (excellent!) and have been kicking around the idea of setting the opera in a different time period than the one for which it was written. On the whole, I’m a big fan of being surprised when the curtain goes up, but then I consume so much more theatre than the average person sitting in the audience that I’ve seen the “standard” production of just about everything. I like it when things get mixed up! So all of a sudden I am working on putting together information for a not-so-standard production of The Elixir of Love. There is some time for them to continue brainstorming and exploring their options before we have to make financial commitments, so for the time being, I will get out of their way and let them think this through.

In the meantime, the music is not going to change and the chorus must be cast and begin rehearsing in short order. We have an enormous pool of local talent from which to choose. To become a member of the OGR chorus you must audition for the Chorus Master. Local auditions are held each spring and we refresh our ranks with many talented singers of all ages shapes and sizes. Then, before each opera, I send out a mass mailing to the entire bunch—about 150 people right now. This mailing gives them the basic information on the upcoming opera such as rehearsal dates, the size of the chorus, who is directing, etc. The members of the chorus then send back their replies. Either they are interested and available for the rehearsals or they are uninterested or unavailable. From the list of interested chorus members the Chorus Master, Assistant Chorus Master and Chorus Coordinator cast the opera. Unfortunately not everyone who wants to be in the chorus is cast in each opera. There are always a few highly talented and wonderful people who we just can’t use. The Elixir chorus will number only 24, so I fear we will be turning away more people than usual. I hate that, but at the same time it would look and sound extremely silly if we had 65 sopranos on the stage with only a dozen or so of the other voices (yes, we are a bit soprano heavy). We will begin chorus music rehearsals back at the Central Reformed Church in early December.

In eight short weeks we will begin staging rehearsals for The Elixir of Love, so I am leading the charge onward. Chorus letters are in the mail. I am working on housing and travel for the visiting artists. A few contracts need to be written. I have to find a place to rehearse. There is always some work to be done on the planning of the Betty Van Andel Opera Center. There are still some things to finish from Tosca. There are some things to begin planning for Faust and we are already discussing options for next season. So I am taking turns leading, following and getting out of the way. As usual.

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.

Opening Night Butterflies

We get 1 week in DeVos Hall for each opera; seven days from the time we unload the first truck until it all has to be back out the door again. Sometimes that seems like an appallingly small amount of time. For Tosca, though, a week has been just about enough. The scenery is not complex or difficult to move. The lighting effects have all worked out beautifully. Aside from adding gold braid to the chaise in Act II, the props all seem to be ready. Costumes have been great the whole way through—even though some of the singers were less than thrilled with theirs in the beginning.

Last Saturday my loading crew and I got everything from the rehearsal hall and costume shop. We took some things back to our warehouse, where they will live until it is time to begin work on The Elixir of Love in January. The rest of it stayed on the truck overnight so that at 8:00 AM on Sunday morning I could back into the loading dock at DeVos Hall and drop it off. The union crews at DeVos are fast to unload a truck and helped me get everything where it was going for the week.

We always take over a large room in the basement of the theatre to use as a temporary costume shop. Repairs and final adjustments are made there and pieces that need to be cleaned are dealt with on the premises as much as possible. Unfortunately the washer and dryer are located right outside the orchestra pit doors, so cycles have to be strategically timed with the music or even the end of the rehearsal.

Up at stage level, the DeVos Hall scene shop is a large space fitted with giant overhead doors that lead to the stage. This is where we set up the props headquarters for the week. Folding tables are put up and tools arrive along with a small fridge and microwave. Yes, we do use those to keep the production staff snacks in, but there is also food to be consumed during the opera. The chicken is a prop. The chips and salsa are mine.

The opera owns a double-wide chaise that has figured prominently on our stage more than once. It is getting reupholstered once again for use in Tosca. All other furniture arrived with the set, but not a chaise. We all scratched our heads and wondered if Scarpia tried to have his wicked way with her on the floor when this was originally produced in Omaha. There was a lot for the Prop Master to deal with, so I volunteered to redo the chaise to help lighten his load. I know how to upholster things the right way, but of course I thought I’d take a shortcut and it would still look fine. Note to self: it is always faster to do it the right way the first time. It is never faster to have to start over.

Now it is 5 PM on opening night. It is time for me to leave my office and stroll calmly across the street to DeVos Hall. I have enormous confidence in the production staff, the union stagehands, the artists, the box office and the ushers. I know it will all go well, but I still have those little butterflies in my stomach from time to time. They are the reminder that we are about to attempt something incredibly difficult in front of a live audience.

I love those butterflies. I hope they never go away.

TOSCA is alive . . .

The student dress rehearsal was a wonderful success last night. Here are some pictures I snapped during the rehearsal.

Student Painters Tackle Themes in Tosca

For the past four seasons, Opera Grand Rapids has worked with Square One Design and local artists to create original pieces of artwork to market its operas. For the past two years local illustrator and painter, Yolanda Gonzalez has created paintings that capture the spirit of each show, and tell to story of the opera.

Inspired by this unique connection between visual art and opera, East Kentwood High School’s AP Art Class embarked on a special project. After learning about the opera TOSCA, which opens the Opera Grand Rapids season on Nov. 7 & 8, the class created visual images inspired by the opera’s story.

The class’ work was then brought to the Opera Grand Rapids office where staff and board members voted on the piece they felt best captured the spirit of Puccini’s tragic tale.

The winner of the contest was junior Taryn Jaglowski. For her first place prize, Jaglowski received tickets to the opening night performance of TOSCA on Nov. 7, a cash prize of $100 and a page displaying her work in the opera program.

The work of the entire class will be on display in the Keeler lobby of DeVos Hall during the student dress rehearsal on Nov. 5 and during the performances of TOSCA on Nov. 7 & 8.