A couple of weekends ago, I finally had the opportunity to watch The Audition, a documentary providing a behind-the-scenes look at the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions. I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first, thinking it would be more of a vanity video for the Met and the competition it supports á la Prince’s Purple Rain. However, I was surprised to find that Susan Frömke’s work attempts to provide an objective vision of what the National Council Auditions are to the competitors and the sponsors. Some of the interviews are hilarious and some are quite illustrative of personalities and politics. What made me hopeful was the care, encouragement and compassion the coaches and administrators seemed to show towards the various participants in the lessons and coachings that come as part of competition at the national level. It may really be like that in the upper echelons, but I admit I haven’t been public witness to such showers of praise. … Read more »
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Recently, at one of the Boston Lyric Opera dress rehearsals of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Boston Globe photographer Josh Reynolds was hovering about backstage, prolifically photographing nearly everything that crossed his path: people sitting in hair and make-up; chorus members primping one another; ASMs doing final checks; supers reading the newspaper; techs reviewing cue sheets; props being set; wardrobe making adjustments to costumes; costumed singers making adjustments to wardrobe; spike marks being moved; entrances; exits–you name it, he probably photographed it. What happens backstage at a larger show like this one is an amazing orchestrated feat. The number of people and objects in motion backstage at all times, the management of timing, the nearly foreign language of the cues, the audible communications–it’s really another show occurring simultaneously with what is transpiring onstage. Think, perhaps, of Noises Off. At one point during the first half of Act II, whilst in the wings, I ducked into the prop … Read more » Well, blog readers, the time has come. It is time to post your haiku, limerick or English sonnet which argues why you, the blog reader, should be the one to receive these ever-so-fabulous tickets to the by-invitation-only Boston Lyric Opera dress rehearsal of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and the subsequent and ever-so-hard-to-get guest bloggership at my blog! Do you need to review the guidelines for participation? Please read this post as a reminder. You have approximately 38 hours from the time of this post to publish your brilliant creation in order to have it considered. I look forward to reading what you have to say! Hi, folks! It’s giveaway time again at professional auditionee and I wanted to give you the low-down. This time the prize is two tickets to the special-invitation-only dress rehearsal of Boston Lyric Opera’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann *and* a guest blog spot on my blog. Never seen an opera? Really like opera? Never even heard of opera? Well, no matter. Now you have a chance to see this fantastic production for free on me! Don’t wig out just because it’s sung in French–there will be supertitles in English. Plus, the show’s really funny. Who needs English when the music and the comedy will communicate it all for you? (Oh, and there’s some kissing, too.) When will this dress rehearsal be happening, you ask? How long is this show, you ask? |
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