Hofstra Opera Theater 2014- Dido and Aeneas/ L'Ivrogne Corrige

With a new year comes a new opera production for the Hofstra Opera Theater. This year, we are proud to present a double bill. The first opera will be Henry Purcell's only full opera Dido and Aeneas. The second half will be Christoph Willibald Glück's comic masterpiece L'Ivrogne Corrige, ou Le Mariage du Diable. Both operas will be presented during each of our three performance from January 31st- February 2nd at Hofstra University's JC Adams Playhouse. For tickets and times, refer to this link.

As with last year, I am happy to be blogging our process during the rehearsal period as well as exploring the history of the works on this blog as well as my youtube channel, which is in no way affiliated with Hofstra University. This is simply an exploration through the eyes and ears of one of the performers. I am fortunate enough to be a member of the chorus for both operas and look forward to sharing my experience.

Production Concepts and Synopsis:

Dido and Aeneas (1689) (Sung in English) - Dido, Queen of Carthage, has been mourning the loss of her husband for almost two decades. One day, the greek warrior Aeneas gets shipwrecked along with his crew. Dido allows the men to stay and offers anything they desire. Her handmaiden, Belinda, believes that a marriage with Aeneas will bring an end to Dido's depression and make her a stronger leader. The two fall in love, and Dido soon accepts Aeneas' marriage proposal. Meanwhile, the evil sorceress plans to ruin the lovers' lives by tricking Aeneas to return on his mission to found Rome and then sink his crew at sea. Following a day of hunting and romance between Dido and Aeneas, the people of Carthage seek shelter from a rainstorm. However, Aeneas left alone with the sorceress' elf, disguised as Mercury, who tells him to leave Carthage and return to finding Italy. The next day, Aeneas and his men prepare to leave. Aeneas says goodbye to Dido, who curses him for leaving her. He decides to stay and defy the gods, which still leaves Dido upset because he was still willing to leave. After Aeneas sails away, Dido commits suicide by using Aeneas' sword, followed by a funeral pyre constructed from items Aeneas left behind.

The production, directed by Isabel Milenski, will delve into the psychological aspects of why people are willing to give everything for love. The set, designed by Jian Jung, takes on a minimalist perspective. From above, long incandescent lightbulbs will rise and descend to create the emotional and physical atmosphere, along with two large white boxes that will serve as a bed, a pedestal, and ship, and finally, a coffin. The choreography will be a homage to the work of Martha Graham and Pina Bausch. The costumes are a mix of modern style and classical greek fashion, changing throughout the story as the characters move from depression to happiness and depression again.

L'ivrogne Corrige, or The Drunkard Reformed (1759-61) (Sung in French with English Dialogue)- Mathurin and his pal Lucas constantly neglect their work to drink. Mathurin decides to give Lucas his niece, Colette, to wed as a token of his friendship. However, Colette is in love with Cleon, a young actor. Together with her aunt Mathurine, Colette and Cleon devise a plan to get the drunken uncle to quit the bottle and consent to the marriage of the two lovers. They decide to dress as furies and trick Mathurin and Lucas into thinking they have drunk themselves to death. Cleon, in the role of Pluto, offers clemency to the two misguided men if Mathurin consents to Colette and Cleon's union and they give up alcohol. After the marriage contract is signed, the masks are removed and Mathurin becomes a changed man, while Lucas returns to the bottle in anger and confusion.

The action for this production will take place at several bars in 1960's France. The concept is to convey the light and dark sides of alcoholism. In addition to a new set and actors, this opera will incorporate set pieces and chorus members in costume from Dido to play Cleon's actor friends. Mathurin and Lucas will be mailmen, a profession where some can get away with being late. The set will be lopsided when the two men are drunk, and straighten out with their realization of soberness.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Orchestra Rehearsal

After a break from observing singer rehearsals, I finally reached that point where I am contributing to the performance: the orchestra rehearsal. It was great to see my classmates for the first time since the end of finals. The maestro was just printing up parts from the new rental company, so he was forced to read from the vocal score. Most of the work we did was for Act 1 and the finale of Act 2. For the latter, we had to go over cuts, for which there were many. But minus a few sight reading errors, we read through the first Act relatively quickly. Unfortunately, there were other problems. Several musicians were unable to come to today's rehearsal, most of the brass and a few winds. Luckily, we have three more rehearsals this week. With technical difficulties put aside, everything is going smoothly and no major roadblocks are in the way of sounding like the great orchestra that we are.

Funniest Part of the day: little note on page that says it was left blank for easy page turn. Adds " it's a great place to write your favorite conductor joke".

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 4

Today, I sat in on the dialogue rehearsal for the principals. Due to the fact that it is 2013 and that the production is extremely different from the original, some cuts had to be made to the script and score. But it is life however. I will be sad that there will be no version of "The woman of the wisest wit" or 'Merrily ring the luncheon bell". Lines are cut or rewritten, songs are shortened, etc. But most importantly, the actors must enhance the dialect to match the fact they are cavemen. No victorian english accents in 50,000 BP. So add on some lovely caveman grunts. But honestly, this is necessary when you do something that isn't a normal Gilbert and Sullivan production.

Isabel Milenski is great when it comes to teaching. I took her Opera Scenes course in the previous semester. We not only took on singing, but we took on one of the toughest things I ever dealt with at school: acting. I learned so much in that class and from sitting in on today's rehearsal. Character work, playing with pitch and energy, word accent choice, etc. I personally believe that the show is in good hands with my classmates. They took great care in figuring out what makes their characters tick. The art of acting certainly has evolved since the days of Gilbert and Sullivan, especially in the opera world.

This is it for now. I will be back again on Tuesday after the first orchestra rehearsal.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 3

The set designs were revealed today by Isabel Milenski and Jian Jung. Consider instead of medieval times, that Princess Ida takes place around 50,000 BP (Before Present). Hildebrand's court is Primative man, Gama and his son are Wall Street tycoons, and Princess Ida resides in a ladies university that looks like the Museum of Natural History. Confused? So was everyone else. But let me assure you that there is sense in this concept.
(See future post for full details on the production concept and design).

The chorus and principals of Act 1, minus King Gama, Arac, Guron, and Scynthius, began to block the first number after focusing on their inner caveman. To instruct them on the dancing was the choreographer, Ashley Handel. She worked diligently to make sure the opening chorus was perfect, even making sure the singers had the right posture to not obstruct their breathing.

Meanwhile, the music director was faced with a dilemma, the orchestra parts were sent to another location by accident. Luckily, he began damage control and found another place to rent from. The day was saved.

Now that the cast, crew, and myself are now aware of the ultimate goal of the show, it is up to all of us to put in 110% and make it a production no one will soon forget.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 1

Principals, Conductor, and Vocal Coach/accompanist run through the music for the entirety of the show in this order: Act 1, Act 3, Act 2.

It is interesting as a instrumentalist to observe a vocal rehearsal. The Conductor works with the pit and the singers separately until close to a week before showtime. Therefore, learning how the vocalists think and act as you play gives you new insight into the art of performance.

Going through each number, the singers run through the song until either they made a mistake or when the conductor had a suggestion about breathing, pacing, and tone color. In sections where words are repeated, it is important to have a different tone each time, as if the words change meaning.

In patter songs, the vocal coach suggested to accent at mid bar. The singers are actually sounding secure on the tougher/faster sections than would be expected on the first day.

We unfortunately had some cast members missing, so not every number was rehearsed.

Everyone was incredibly professional. Total focus and attention was paid to the conductor and to the others as they worked.

Tomorrow, they will combine with the chorus from Act 1. And then the next day, blocking begins. I will give details about the set design, if I can, on Friday's blog.