An Insider’s Take on Tosca
Tosca was an amazing success – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! The Opera is already gearing up for our May production of Tales of Hoffman, but here is a insider’s look back at what the last couple of days before the Tosca opening were like!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
We have moved into Clowes Hall!!!! Monday, March 10th was our first night in Clowes Hall. To me this is always an exciting night in the rehearsal process. So many aspects of the opera production come together for each of us in the cast all at once.
This is the first night cast members are able to see the set. The technical crews have been working all day. Keep in mind that My Fair Lady had a performance in Clowes Hall on Sunday, March 9th. Therefore technical crews had to pack up the My Fair Lady set then unpack and set up the Tosca set all within about 24 hours. The lighting was also adjusted in this time frame to fit the needs of our production. Amazingly enough, nearly everything seems to be complete. It never ceases to boggle my mind just how much the technical crews do in such short time spans.
With this move to Clowes Hall and using our set, comes a change in props and set items. While the opera company is very resourceful in gaining props and set items that are close to what we will actually use in the production, there are improvements or upgrades that are made once we actually get into the theatre. Often some props come with the costume rentals. Other times they are borrowed from props companies. However we acquire them, these items are typically not available for use until we enter “production week”.
Monday night of production week also means costume and wig fittings. While we may have seen photos of our costumes, or our costumes were described to us, no description or photo ever compares to seeing the real thing. Sometimes we “oo” and “aah”, other times we grin and bear it. Our job tonight is to try on the costumes for the wardrobe crew so that they can investigate how it fits and make notes of any changes they need to make prior to our first dress rehearsal on Tuesday evening. If told, we also must see a member of the wig/make-up staff to have a wig fitting. This involved the wig mistress actually putting the wig they designed and made for each of us on to see if the wig fits appropriately. This is a part of the process I also love. I find it especially fun to see myself in a different hairstyle and sometimes even a different hair color than my own hair. While a costume does a lot to put one into character, I think a wig makes a huge difference as well.
Another part of the costume and wig fittings is the discussion of when we change costumes and how. During some shows it is easy; we change costumes during intermission, or sometimes as chorus members, we never change costume at all. For this production, some of us have a “quick change”. This means about 15-20 of us have to change our costume and wigs in a 10-minute time frame. There will be a couple rooms upstairs in the wings backstage for us to complete our costume change. We are to have our costume in that room at the start of the show so it is ready when needed. There will be wardrobe and wig crews there to assist us. Oh, well, that makes it easy then, right? HA!!! Not necessarily! Have you ever tried to change from a 5-piece nun habit into a two-piece dress and gloves in an 8’ by 10’ room along with 6-10 other women? It isn’t easy and it takes patience, understanding, and teamwork between the cast members and the wardrobe and wig staff.
Once all the fittings have been completed, we go sit in the audience area of Clowes Hall and wait for the rehearsal to actually start. The first night in the theatre is a tech rehearsal. This is the technical crews big night to get the technical side of the production flowing smoothly, or at the least learn what they have to change before the Tuesday evening dress rehearsal. To do this, often the cast is asked to repeat scenes a couple times to enable the technical crew to make adjustments. This can be scene changes that involve moving large pieces of scenery in a short time frame. It can mean getting lighting cues precisely at certain moments. There is a lot to be ironed out in a production. What this means for the cast is a long rehearsal. Thankfully, this production of Tosca does not involve a huge set. The scenery changes we have are during the intermissions. Therefore, we had very few scenes repeated in the rehearsal. We did however have to learn our curtain call or bow. One might think that a curtain call is easy to coordinate. However, getting everyone in precisely the correct spot so all are seen can take 15 to 30 minutes depending on the cast.
Over all “tech rehearsal” night is a very fun and exciting night. After all, it is the first night where we get to see “the big picture”. All of our hard work of the past few months is coming together. However, by the end of the evening, we are tired and ready to go home. The great thing about Tosca is that the chorus is finished after about 15 minutes into Act II. With this production, the directors are being nice. They allow us to go home when we finish singing in Act II. We all comment as we leave the theatre what a luxury it is. While we are leaving around 9:30, they are only about halfway through Act II, which means another hour or two of work for the cast members remaining at the theatre. Opera is definitely a work of passion.
Tosca Rehearsal
From Laura, IO Chorus Member
(Friday, February 29th, 2008)
Walking into a first chorus staging rehearsal is a unique experience. For the first rehearsal, everyone is a mix of excited and tense. We are curious about the stage director and the principal cast members; how good are they and what will they be like to work with? Each of us is also attempting to remember all the words and music to the scenes we will be staging tonight.
We are rehearsing this opera in a space we have not previously used, the Greek Orthodox Church located at 40th and Pennsylvania. It seems to be a great space. The room has large round tables with chairs for us to sit at during breaks. The “stage” is actually a cleared part of the large room. In this space are items such as chairs and music stands placed in a line to represent a part of the set. There are benches to represent the pews in the church. A table with candelabra and a large statue draped in cloth represents the altar of the church. Yellow tape is on the floor to show furniture locations for Act 1. A line of tape with the word “curtain” indicates our curtain line. Another piece of tape indicates the edge of the stage.
Rehearsal starts at 7 p.m. At the onset of rehearsal, it is simply the chorus, and the staff leading our rehearsal. Like many, this director is very mindful of precisely what he will accomplish during a rehearsal. He knows that we will be working pages 42-82 over the 3-hour rehearsal tonight and that many of the principal characters are not in these scenes, therefore they have the evening off.
We begin by simply standing and singing the music of the first scene with our
conductor, Jim Caraher and rehearsal accompanist, Sandy Baetzhold. Then the real fun begins. The stage director, Mr. Schamberger, gives us a little background for the scene and his concept of this part of the story. We learn who is in what costumes so the Director can tell the appropriate people what they will be doing in the scenes. We are gradually arranged on the stage into the positions we are to “land in” as we enter for the scene. Mr. Schamberger’s philosophy seems to be “tell us where we have to go and by when, then see what we do to arrive there based on what is happening in the scene and what feels ‘right’ to us as performers.” I love working with directors of this style because it allows for individual personalities and acting styles or strengths to come out.
Once we learn our “go to” positions, and the Mr. Schamberger ensures we know the meaning of each of the lines sung, we all head “back stage” to begin the scene from a few measures prior to our entrance. This will be the first time for us singing and acting this scene. The Assistant Stage Manager (ASM) is there with her large binder filled with a copy of the score. Her score is very colorful with highlighter markings and colored tabs to help her give cues to all the performers for their entrances
With this initial run of the scene the ASM’s cues are great, but chaos has truly begun. Everyone is attempting to watch the conductor for their musical cues, sing the correct notes and words, avoid running over the kids or each other in the scene, and manage to arrive at their “go to” positions all by the time directed. Suddenly the words and music you thought you had memorized are gone. It seems like your legs have forgotten how to move from point A to point B. The music stops at the end of the section and we all look around in a combination of amazement and shock. We look at each other and even the directors wondering; what just happened? Just how bad was that? Can we please have another go at this section before you give us any more information?
Thankfully, most directors and conductors know that the first few times through a scene’s staging is going to be general chaos. No matter how many shows I do, it never ceases to amaze me just how overwhelming all that information and interaction can be and just how poorly our brains process when they are overflowing with information.
We repeat the same section of the scene multiple times, with Mr. Schamberger making adjustments as he sees the need. He is gaining a sense of how this group works, who is good at what type of acting, etc. and capitalizes on this new knowledge.
On to the next scene . . .
Welcome to our new blog!
Over the months to come, Indianapolis Opera artists and staff will blog here about their experiences, upcoming events, and the fascinating work of producing world-class opera. Please stay tuned, active posting will begin very soon!
