Magic Flute
So the run for my cast finished with the matinee on Saturday afternoon - slight anticlimax since it was probably the least well attended performance. We went to the cast party in the evening, with most people exhausted and partly covered in paint from the evening show, but with plenty of energy left for gossiping.
One of my selling points in the audition was that I had done the role before, but that was only an abridged 1 hour version, and there was a lot more to learn even though I know this opera really well. My character, Pamina, is on the surface a typical 'good girl' type opera heroine: virtuous, earnest, no obvious sense of humour. Being Mozart, though, the character has hidden depths, even though this is a fairy tale so not the best vehicle for searching character analysis. (For example, Pamina mystically recognises Prince Tamino as her beloved the moment she catches sight of him, although she has never met him.) Some of the most challenging acting is in the sequence of scenes where she doesn't sing at all: the Queen's second aria ordering Pamina to kill Sarastro, Monostatos' attempt to murder her (Pamina), Sarastro's rescue and subsequent aria. Our Sarastro had done the role innumerable times and was a very effective comforting grandfatherly presence: plus somehow it's easier to take the line about 'A man to guide thy steps though needest' from somebody in his 70s.
Musically I found the role very comfortable, probably more so now than a few years ago when the middle of my voice wasn't my favourite part. Except the aria of course, but that isn't designed to be comfortable singing. I think I may never be entirely happy with my take on it, even once (fingers crossed) I've performed it hundreds of times: it's so saturated with meaning and so technically challenging at the same time. In the meantime though I think I had a reasonably good crack at it, and one well-wisher in the bar at least said it was his favourite bit.
No serious cock-ups: I got all the failing-to-come-in type moments done during the dress rehearsal as traditional... And the theatre bar does a mean pint of (bitter snobs look away) John Smiths.
One of my selling points in the audition was that I had done the role before, but that was only an abridged 1 hour version, and there was a lot more to learn even though I know this opera really well. My character, Pamina, is on the surface a typical 'good girl' type opera heroine: virtuous, earnest, no obvious sense of humour. Being Mozart, though, the character has hidden depths, even though this is a fairy tale so not the best vehicle for searching character analysis. (For example, Pamina mystically recognises Prince Tamino as her beloved the moment she catches sight of him, although she has never met him.) Some of the most challenging acting is in the sequence of scenes where she doesn't sing at all: the Queen's second aria ordering Pamina to kill Sarastro, Monostatos' attempt to murder her (Pamina), Sarastro's rescue and subsequent aria. Our Sarastro had done the role innumerable times and was a very effective comforting grandfatherly presence: plus somehow it's easier to take the line about 'A man to guide thy steps though needest' from somebody in his 70s.
Musically I found the role very comfortable, probably more so now than a few years ago when the middle of my voice wasn't my favourite part. Except the aria of course, but that isn't designed to be comfortable singing. I think I may never be entirely happy with my take on it, even once (fingers crossed) I've performed it hundreds of times: it's so saturated with meaning and so technically challenging at the same time. In the meantime though I think I had a reasonably good crack at it, and one well-wisher in the bar at least said it was his favourite bit.
No serious cock-ups: I got all the failing-to-come-in type moments done during the dress rehearsal as traditional... And the theatre bar does a mean pint of (bitter snobs look away) John Smiths.