Pearlfection – a performer’s perspective (Part 4)

When Opera Australia opened The Pearlfishers in Melbourne, tenor Henry Choo was centre stage as Nadir, making and breaking his vow of eternal friendship.  In the final of this series of blog posts, Henry takes us to the Stage Orchestral Rehearsal.

Michael Black

Emma Matthews

It’s 9.25am and I’m running to the theatre from my apartment because I’m going to be late. Fortunately for me, Emma Matthews (Leila) is still in the makeup chair when I arrive. Andrew’s having trouble putting her head-dress into her wig – the pins won’t stay in and it’s way too early in the morning to be inflicting pin-induced scalp wounds. 

Emma gets up off the chair and swishes her long Avatar-like pony tail around in a wide arc.  It’s a pity she’s wearing dark 10-W makeup as opposed to blue body paint. She’d likely make a wonderful real-life native Pandoran.

“All hands on deck” is the way today’s Stage Orchestral rehearsal will run. Unlike the piano

Kylie on prompt

During the rehears

dress rehearsals, where Luise Napier had directorial control of the rehearsal to amend and fix production issues, the stage orchestral rehearsal falls under the authority of the conductor, Olivier Cuneo. We rehearse Act 1 today in a “stop-start” fashion prior to the rehearsal break, and then as a “continuous run” of the act after the break.

It’s wonderful to see all the individual elements of the production coming to fruition as a whole. The dancers are a joy (and great distraction) to watch as they perform their graceful spins and twirls.

Kylie from Stage Management “calls the show” from “prompt-corner” (right-hand -side of stage

Dancers

Dancers

when viewed from the audience perspective), whilst Eugenia and Sophie ensure that performers are ready and waiting to go on stage from their respective sides. Chorus Master, Michael Black, is close at hand to help resolve musical issues involving the chorus.

The buzz is now definitely in the air. It’s now 6 days before opening night…

Conductor Olivier Cuneo

Through the monitor

The Pearlfishers  was on throughout May at the Arts Centre, Melbourne. To find out more about the opera, read the synopsis or Opera Australia's Media Release.