GOING UNDERGROUND

Today I went underground.

Thankfully it had nothing to do with entering the witness protection program and everything to do with visiting our wardrobe department. They are comfortably ensconced in the basement of the theater, basking in the fluorescent effulgence glinting off beige cinder block walls. Ah, the glamor of costuming.

Tesia is our Costume Coordinator. Pity her, she thought she had to school me in ways of the seam ripper. Oh, I've ripped some seams, lady. Oh, yes.


Our Lucia is set in the 1930s, so our costume designer Carol Bailey, along with Tesia and crew, pulled appropriate costumes from vintage stores in Cleveland, The Cleveland Play House, Great Lakes Theater Festival and other sources. There's lots of fedoras, and guns--lots of guns, fitting a mafioso bent to the production. (I don't need to be threatened: I will take the cannoli.)


Pop quiz: What is in the above photo?
A. Hair bound to be stuffed into pantyhose sausages and sent to the Gulf to soak up oil
B. A Pantene commercial gone horribly wrong
C. Wigs for Lucia

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A LITTLE MADNESS IN THE SPRING

We are 9 days away from opening night, people. Pretty soon, we'll be out of the rehearsal hall and on stage. But not before I got some snapshots...


Suck it, Edgardo! Lucia is mine now--and we have the marriage certificate to prove it. (The empty champagne glasses, too.)


Honestly, I'm not sure if all these umbrellas are props or if it's just because it's Cleveland in the springtime.


Bloody hell! They make me do all the dirty work.


They're not bored stage managers! They're somber stage managers! (Who says backstage crew can't act?)
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WE'RE ALL MAD HERE

At rehearsal of the "mad scene"...

Sometimes opera rehearsals just look like really awkward meetings--where there's guns and knifes.


Nili: Oh, Tomer, you're the best director EVER!
Tomer: All I'm doing is subbing in as Edgardo for Scott.
Kris (in background): Why doesn't Tomer hold me like that? Baritones have needs, too.


My gal Val Valerie, doing her best stage manager stare.




This chicken chose the wrong place to roost.

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FOR NEWBIES

I like to think I'm the inspiration for this event (even though they maligned my species as afraid of opera, which clearly I'm not.) Nonetheless, I will be there, and if you haven't tried opera before or have friends who are hesitant, this is the perfect introduction.


Email Paul at jarrett@operacleveland.org if you want to come!
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