It's the final countdown

The Daughter production is heading into the home stretch now. After tonight, we have only two rehearsals left until we open on Friday! The tech schedule at HGO is pretty luxurious, especially for a shortish opera like Daughter. We have two 4-hour Piano Tech rehearsals (we did Act I in the first and Act II in the second), one Piano Dress (the whole show with costumes, wigs, and makeup), two Orchestra Staging rehearsals (in costume), and the Final Orchestra Dress, which has an invited audience.

In opera, there's always a delicate balance between the music and the dramatic/technical aspects of the production. In the rehearsals with piano, we focus mostly on the latter, stopping to fix spacing and clarify blocking, giving copious notes about the costumes, and taking time to set the props correctly. The conductor rarely stops the rehearsal for musical issues unless there's a real train wreck, and often the singers don't sing out. As soon as the orchestra joins the process, we shift heavily toward the music. The orchestra staging rehearsals are Maestro's. He sets the plan for what we work on, and he stops often to give musical notes. The director is still watching and taking notes, but he doesn't dictate how the rehearsal goes or stop the rehearsal. The singers also change their focus. Tonight was the first Orchestra Staging for Daughter, and I heard some of the principals sing full out for the first time (worth the wait, that's for sure).

My job is a bit lighter once the orchestra joins the rehearsals. During the nights with piano, I'm often running around, shifting people, giving the chorus little notes, and checking in with stage management. Once we get to this part of the process, I have much less to do. When Maestro stops the orchestra to give a note, I don't even have to keep track of where we're starting from (a fairly major part of my job in tech rehearsals); there's a member of music staff to do that. I was reminded today, though, of the most important part of my job: making sure information gets to everyone who needs it. I spent most of the afternoon emailing and phoning with various colleagues in an attempt to clean up a small mess that was made through lack of communication. My lesson? Never assume that someone knows something unless you told them yourself.

Speaking of which, I hope you all know how much I adore you for reading this thing. What started out as a whim has become an important part of my days, and even when I can't think of a thing to write and I post total crap, it gives me great joy to know that you'll read it anyway. Especially you, my Latvian friend.