The opera is "La Fanciulla Del West" (The Girl of the Golden West) by Puccini. It's based on a play by David Belasco, but this is basically Puccini's idea of what the Gold Rush of 1849 must have been like. The music has inspired so many people. I hear bits and pieces of the Westerns from the fifties and sixties in it as well as "Music of the Night" from "Phantom," which Andrew Lloyd Weber lifted directly from "Fanciulla's" score. It's good stuff. Plus, Lillian Groag is directing it, which will make it all the more interesting.
The photos you see here are pictures of John Conklin's set stuffed into the rehearsal hall at Florida Grand Opera. The monstrosity of gold mining equipment and old, tatty furniture on tons of lumber barely fits inside the rehearsal hall, yet here it is. The artistic team is plastered up against the wall, barely able to see what's going on, yet here it is. Despite it's unsavory parts, having a full set like this for rehearsals is a real luxury. The floor is really uneven and easy to trip over so it will be a boon for the singers the have the opportunity to get used to the space before they are hurled onto the stage and have to sing in front of an audience. Bruce Lecure, the fight director, and I spent the entire morning discussing how exactly he was going to take care of the fights since he doesn't have enough space to stage them properly in the rehearsal hall. We lose about four feet of front space in there because of the rest of the set. He's going to have his hands full with all of these clumsy boys, a dangerous set, and oodles of proposed violence within the score.
No matter how tiring, frustrating, and long this day was with a production meeting, music rehearsals and all sorts of Snafus involving schedule (a never-ending nightmare it seems), it was a good day because I got to meet Lillian. She is such a joy and I've only known her for five hours. She is energetic and sweet and witty and the first thing we did when we got into the production meeting was clap me on the leg, rub my back vigorously and laugh. It's as if I was an old friend she hadn't seen in ten years. We sat together through the entire musical run through and I took various notes for her and got to watch her mind work as she became familiar with the singers, followed along with her score, lost her water, took fifteen minutes trying to extract a kleenex quietly from her purse while people were singing. She is a brilliant mess and I have a feeling it will be a true pleasure to keep her on track.
So, things are looking up. I'm past the massive paperwork (only revisions are due now), I like the people I'm working for. I'm getting to know the city. Yesterday I went to Miami Beach and went swimming with the musical assistant and the ensemble director from the opera. It's great to suddenly feel included. If you can't tell by this post, I was feeling a bit isolated over the last few days. Thank god that's changed. The first day of a rehearsal, to me, is always good foreshadowing of things to come. If it's a disaster then I get a little scared, if it's not then I start to feel optimisitc.
Feeling really optimistic right now...
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