Repost: Princess Ida Production Concept

I was asked by the stage manager to remove the photos from the original version of this post. This will help those of you who have never seen this opera to get an idea of the director's interpretation.
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"What is Man?" According to women, all men are Cavemen! Thus begins the idea for the Hofstra Opera Theatre production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida. The 8th of their 14 collaborations, the opera is about a prince who seeks to regain the princess betrothed to him at the age of two years old. However, she has formed a women's university and cut herself off from men, thinking them stupid, vile, and disgusting creatures. How does this idea get translated to a modern production? By showing the extremities of separatism between men and women, in the eyes of womankind. Director Isabel Milenski has taken the medieval storyline and set it in 50,000 BP (Before Present).

Act One takes place in a primitive caveman dwelling. There are rocks, piles of wood, and even a rack to hang dead animal carcasses. It is essentially the world of man as seen from the viewpoint of women of Ida's University. King Hildebrand, Prince Hilarion, Florian, Cyril, and the rest of the kingdom are all neanderthals. They are uneducated, wild creatures. Suddenly, they have their first welcomed guests, King Gama and his three sons, who represent the other side of man as seen by women: Greedy Wall Street Tycoons. (We apologize that this may not make sense historically. The director did not seek to recreate a historically accurate setting.)

Act Two moves the action to Princess Ida's all women's university at Castle Adamant. She and the other ladies are models of class and distinction. They all wear matching uniforms and see themselves as the dominant gender in the world. They do not believe in the regular christian god, but rather give praise to Minerva, or the greek Athena, goddess of learning and strength. This is also important because according to mythology, she was born from Jupiter's forehead.

Act 2: "Gently, Gently": As Hilarion and his friends enter the university, they pass a display showcasing the atrocities of man. Freddy Kreuger, a man on a toilet, a caveman, a football player, and Kim Jong Il.

Act 2: "The World is but a broken toy": When the men, now disguised as lady graduates, meet up with Princess Ida, she sings of how the world has been destroyed of all innocence and peace by men. A large tank rolls behind the display case as the four sing the touchingly beautiful song, a metaphor for the world we live in today.

Act 2: "A Lady Fair of Lineage High": When the boys run into Lady Psyche, she tells them about how evolution proves that man is filthy and vile. She brings the display forward and adds photos of Monkeys to the heads of the figures, and to the men.

Act Three begins with the women preparing for battle. The ground from the display case is cleared and is shown as the merger between the worlds of Act 1 and 2. This is the moment when the ladies and Ida become more like men, because war is not of womanly nature. And after the battle, the ladies begin to associate themselves with men and find they are attractive and not at all bad. When Ida surrenders, she decides that her separatist views will not help the world. She must share the knowledge she has learned with the world in order to make it a better place. She and the other women leave the university and join the cavemen, who are pure and innocent creatures, to rebuild the world.

Thoughts? Leave a comment below. Share with your friends. Come see Princess Ida at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse at Hofstra University on February 1st and 2nd at 8pm, and February 3rd at 3pm. 

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 2

Day two consisted of the chorus working with the assistant conductor and the principals working with the music director. I sat in with the choral conductor. Boy was I impressed. He presented himself professionally and with a great knowledge of the score. He went over the notes he took yesterday and the tempos that the musical director will take during the show. It went rather smoothly, except at parts where the dividing of the vocal lines became hard even for me to decipher. At least the singers can learn each other's parts to strengthen their own.

The patter songs were a challenge at the beginning, but the singers managed to take them on with eagerness. And once they got it, they sounded amazing.

I have high hopes come show time. Tomorrow, the day of the blocking commences.

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.

What is going to happen in 2013?

The new year is coming. 2013 is going to prove to be a very exciting year for me. I am doing coverage of my school's opera theatre production, Princess Ida. Also, I am expected to attend many exciting concerts, some of them being my own. And most importantly, I am going to do more interesting stories on my blog, and many episodes of some of my series on YouTube. Opera in a Nutshell, That Music History Show, and even some interviews and concert clips. I also want to know what you, the public, wants. So tell me in the comments you want me to cover in the new year? or do you know anyone who wants to work with me. I have started working as a YouTube Partner, so I hopefully can make my videos more legitimate
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