Movin' On

Moving on without a backward glance. ("Don't Look Back!" Words to live by.... Second only to the supertitle translation for the B section of Ascalax's aria in the Underworld: "Constant torture is better than false hope.")

Le Comte Ory has one more week of rehearsal before we move into the theatre. I spied the following screen saver on our Stage Management Intern's computer:

Wolf Trap Opera presents Le Comte Ory.
It's a lot like Spamalot, with a little Mel Brooks thrown in.

And it's Rossini. In French.

With a flying cow.

The Craziest Thing You Ever Did For Love

WETA-FM is running a contest in connection with our July 22 Romeo et Juliette with the NSO. Write in now and win some tickets! Our Romeo sang "Ah, leve-toi soleil" in our company concert last weekend, and I can't wait to hear the cast dig into the entire score.

Orpheus Post-Mortem (no pun intended)

Final performance last Sunday. Excuse me if I repeat myself, but I'm just extraordinarily proud of the cast and crew. Why? The singers invested themselves so fully in the story that a 3-hour baroque opera had real momentum. Absolutely everyone kept the energy positive and the work focused during a difficult tech period. All of the musicians allowed the baroque ornamentation to breathe, live, and serve both the music and the drama. All of this with an average age onstage of about 26, and an average age backstage of much less.

Flowers 6.28.06

Partial day off today, enough to pay a visit to the garden. Love this time of year. Yarrow and coneflowers in full bloom, the butterfly bush is already working its magic, and the frogs are battling with the lavender.