Pearlfection – a performer’s perspective

Guest blogger Henry Choo

When Opera Australia opens The Pearlfishers in Melbourne, tenor Henry Choo will be centre stage as Nadir, making and breaking his vow of eternal friendship.  In the first of a series of blog posts, Henry takes us to the final studio rehearsal as the cast and crew prepare for the production.

The Pearlfishers is an opera that scares me. Not because of the operatic work per se but because of the things that people have told me about it.

One particular story that has been acutely burned into my mind is that of a principal opera singer in France who had allegedly been approached by another saying,

“Your voice is like a pearl; all white, with an ‘ole in the middle.”

Our rehearsal studio isn’t nearly as cold, though it is somewhat sparse. Six strategically placed wooden pillars represent the side-walls, and coloured gaffa-tape on the floor represent flowing curtains and gauzes that divide the rehearsal space into “front, middle and back”. There’s a large blue rock with intricate carvings on the front, and also a golden plinth-like structure that dominates the room.

Feathers fly as we open La boheme



Stars of the show
Ji-Min Park (Rodolfo) and
Takesha Meshe Kizart (Mimi)

Last week was a big one for Opera Australia – opening the 2011 Melbourne season with our brand new La bohème.  And what a night it was!

After all the hard work, Gale Edwards’ cabaret-inspired production received great reviews in The Australian, the Herald Sun and The Age.

And how better to celebrate than with a party? Champagne, feathers, and a performance by the gold-spangled diva herself! 

We are including photos for those who missed it, and you can catch Takesha's performance (filmed on a mobile phone) on her website: www.takeshameshekizart.com.

 

Taryn Fiebig (Musetta)
with our burlesque dancers

  

Opera Australia Chief Executive Adrian Collette AM
 with conductor, Maestro Christian Badea



Takeshe Meshe Kizart singing at the party



   

The Bohemians
Ji-Min Park (Rodolfo), Shane Lowrencev (Shaunard),
David Parkin (Colline) and Andrew Jones (Marcello)



 

Backstage with the Bohemians - Part 6 Taryn Fiebig talks about the role of Musetta and the preparation required for the role

Another behind the scenes look at La bohème, this time we interview Taryn Fiebig who plays Musetta and find out about her experience working in La bohème, what she has learnt about herself as a performer from working on this production and why Musetta is adored by everyone.

Skip to part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of 'Backstage with the Bohemians'.

Book tickets to see La bohème at the Sydney Opera House, from 31 December 2012.

Backstage with the Bohemians - Part 5: The Kids' Chorus

Act II, La boheme
Benjamin Rasheed as Papignol, with the Children's Chorus
Photo by Jeff Busby



 With only days until the Opening Night of Opera Australia's La bohème, guest blogger Caroline Baum makes a final visit to the  rehearsal studio in Melbourne.

A change of city brings the final elements together. While the set is being assembled in the State Theatre, Maestro Badea puts Orchestra Victoria through its paces. They rehearse at their HQ, a former army communications command centre on the edge of Albert Park while, outside, the stands from the Grand Prix are being dismantled.

The maestro’s energy, both musically and verbally, keeps them on their toes. 

To the French horns: ‘In Puccini’s day, the quality of the instruments was terrible, today it’s much better so you don’t need to play so strong.’

‘Be more of a diva!’ he urges the harpist in her solo chords in Act I.

When it comes to Act II he warns ‘All you will have time to do is turn the pages’ before urging them to ‘put a lot more condiment in your spaghetti sauce! I want sparkle like fireworks and character. Anytime you have a chance to play legato, don’t.’

And for Musetta’s entrance ‘She’s a cabaret singer, not a valkyrie, so keep it light.'

After a short break he joins an evening rehearsal for the children’s chorus in Act II. Gale may not be a parent, but she seems to know exactly how to talk to children without patronising them. She makes no pretence that this is a game.

‘You know why you tripped there?’ she asks one boy. ‘Because stage running is not like real running. You are not on the oval now,’ she says, firmly.

The kids adjust their steps. Most are between nine and twelve years old and several have appeared on stage before in choirs or in other productions, but their focus and responsiveness are still impressive.

Julian loves his prop bundle on the end of a stick.

‘How awesome would it be to keep the props,’ he says wistfully.

Stage manager Ben explains that an added challenge in the very complex transition into Act II is the revolve, which they have not encountered yet.

‘It will be like stepping on and off a giant CD,’ he tells them.

‘Whoa!’ they whisper, hardly able to contain their excitement.

Gale shields them from the darker elements of the production that they would not understand. Her version of Parpignol is bound to create controversy, but they only see him as having a cart full of irresistible toys and are not interested in the small packages he weighs up for their mothers.

When the adult chorus joins the kids the next morning and hears them sing for the first time, the professionals erupt in spontaneous applause, a compliment that goes down well.

Gale's attention to detail extends even to non-singing extras. She gives one man a truly sinister backstory and role, even though all he has to do is sit on a balcony and observe the scene. To her, he is Goebbels and by the time she’s finished telling the actor why, she has made him feel like the most important person in the room.

Time is the biggest pressure now: once the production moves into the State Theatre, Gale is in charge for only two more rehearsals. Protocol dictates that beyond that point, she can no longer stop the show. She can give notes to the singers afterwards, but that’s all. She has to let go. It must be the hardest thing, like allowing your baby to walk unassisted.

The process has not been without its tensions and setbacks, which continue right up to the final days: Ji-Min is struck down with food poisoning and misses a couple of dress rehearsals which gives David Corcoran, who is singing the last four performances in Melbourne a really valuable preparation opportunity. But the revolve operates – forgive the pun – like clockwork.

Now all that’s missing is the audience.

Read the next installment of 'Backstage with the Bohemians', or skip to part 1, 2, 3, 4...6.

Book tickets to see La bohème at the Sydney Opera House, from 31 December 2012.

A preview of La boheme

Watch some footage from our fabulous  new production of La boheme

La boheme appears at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre 12 April - 13 May 2011 and at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House from 12 July - 24 October

To book  click here La bohème

Backstage with the bohemians Part 4 - Takesha Meshé Kizart on life, love and desperation

Delving deeper, ever deeper into behind-the-scenes preparations for La bohème, we interview the star of the show, Takesha Meshé Kizart.

Hear why she and Mimi agree on a simple approach to living.

To read further interviews with Takesha Meshé Kizart, visit her website.

Opera Australia's La bohème opens at the Arts Centre, Melbourne, on 12 April 2011, and the Sydney Opera House on 2 July 2011.

Backstage with the Bohemians - Part 4: Beading, buttons and brocade

Musetta's shoes
created by the Opera Australia Wardrobe department
to the designs of Julie Lynch

It's all about the frocks as Caroline Baum visits the Opera Australia Wardrobe to check on preparations for La bohème.

With only a couple of weeks to go until opening night of La bohème in Melbourne, I’m snooping around in the wardrobe and wig department of the Opera Centre.

The building used to be a jeans factory so it’s appropriate that clothes are still made there.

Seeing all the costumes up close, hanging on racks and labelled for each production you appreciate all the details of brocade, buttons and bows. Walls of ribbon and trim bring out the haberdashery fetishist in me. The workroom is a large, quiet, light-filled space, where steam irons sigh quietly as they press on.

Lyn Heal heads a team of thirty-five cutters and seamstresses, plus a milliner. She scours the world sourcing the right materials for each opera production. Boots are made in Germany by stage footwear specialists who work for all the major opera companies. Beading and embroidery is done in India. An archive of fabrics means that when productions are revived, costumes can be refreshed and run up without a hiccup.

There is a 'bible' for each production, a collection of sketches of each outfit. Each of the eight soloists in La bohème has between one and three outfits, not to mention the second and third casts, plus the forty-eight members of the chorus, most of whom change three times. The look is a mix of grunge and burlesque, with pieces having to be broken down to make the glamour a little worn. Think Otto Dix and George Grosz and you get the idea.  Lady Gaga would love it in here, there are all sorts of feathers and pointy breasts and padded bits, feathered cloaks, waistcoats and breeches and bodices, capelets, and petticoats.

Upstairs, Opera Australia's chief wigmaker, Philip Cox, is threading individual hairs onto a wig.  It’s eye-watering work. (No wonder he wears specs.) I can understand how finishing around the hairline might need to be done by hand, but the whole head?! Apparently it doesn’t look  right if done by machine. It will take about nine days to complete. He has a whole storage system full of plaits bought by the kilo as ponytails in Russia.  He also has a collection of plaster moulds of individually labelled heads (like shoe lasts) which are casts of singers who are regulars with the company, so that wigs can be made for them without needing extra fittings - unless their heads have swollen with fame in the meantime.

Read the next installment of 'Backstage with the Bohemians', or skip to part 1, 2, 3...5, 6.

Book tickets to see La bohème at the Sydney Opera House, from 31 December 2012.

Visit our La bohème Costume Gallery to see a selection of Julie Lynch's designs.  Or, read more about the challenges of creating the costumes for La bohème in an exclusive interview with Wardrobe Buyer, Miranda Brock.

Backstage with the bohemians - Part 3: The mechanics of stagecraft

Costume Design
Mimi
Act II transition
by Julie Lynch

 


 As rehearsals with director Gale Edwards begin, Opera Australia's guest blogger Caroline Baum posts her third report from the La bohème rehearsal studio.

Although the air conditioning is up as high as it will go the singers are not feeling the chill of their Berlin garret. They are melting in their heavy overcoats in Sydney’s humidity while pretending to shiver. Out of sympathy for them, Gale suggests we should all be wearing more layers.  And gloves.

Today she is in her element: you only have to look at how her face dimples with pleasure as she jumps up to choreograph the most minute piece of stage business. No detail is too small. This morning she is working on the Act 1 scene in which the starving young artists enjoy an unexpected feast thanks to Schaunard’s generosity.   Out of a paper bag comes bread, sausage and a pie. The order in which these things are packed into the bag before the scene begins, how they emerge and are laid out occupies her totally, as does the setting of the makeshift table, the safe placing and shifting of candlesticks, and how the scene explores the dynamics between the four friends in high spirits.

The general consensus? "We need a bigger bag". No sooner said than done. One materialises within minutes.  Easy to understand the temptation of staying in the rehearsal room forever, where wishes become reality on request.

"Aren’t they adorable ?" she says, watching her cast with what sounds like maternal pride. "I could eat them for breakfast.  They are so funny and talented, you feel as if nothing could go wrong for these kids - and then of course, it does."

"I love the mechanics of  stagecraft," she says with relish.  "When it works, it is so beautiful."

The cast seem able to absorb two sets of instructions at once. They get music notes from Maestro Badea while being directed by Gale and don’t seem to get flustered or lose their place. Takesha is so relaxed she even chews gum while she sings!

As Rodolfo and Mimi meet and sing their first great duet, the temperature in the room goes up a few degrees. When they finish, spontaneous applause erupts from the production team and I realise I’ve got goosebumps.

"Adorable!" purrs Gale.

Like an unstable weather pattern, the mood in the room is volatile and shifts suddenly. One minute the singers are acting out high-spirits and horseplay, the next we are in to full tragic mode in Act Four, with the entrance of Taryn Fiebig as Musetta, distressed at having found Mimi on the street, abandoned by her aristocratic lover, weak and failing from living rough. I sit with Takesha’s mother, who accompanies her daughter on most of her engagements, watching the scene unfold. As the intensity builds and Mimi comes in and is laid on the bed, Taryn is so overcome that she starts to cry and has to take a break.  She is not the only one. I spot Andrew/Marcello wiping a few tears away. Later he tells me "I did thirty performances as Schaunard and lost it every time. Those chords just do it."

Minutes later on Elizabeth Street I am confronted by a junkie screaming at a man on the sidewalk. "That was the last of my money you bastard, the last of it!" Mimi is alive, if only just, in Sydney today.

Read the next installment of 'Backstage with the Bohemians', or skip to part 1, 2...4, 5, 6.

Book tickets to see La bohème at the Sydney Opera House, from 31 December 2012.