Guest Post 3

Susan has another post to share with us regarding Romeo et Juliette (thanks, Susan!):

Monday, July 9, 2007

Social Dynamics

Had another run-through yesterday. Guess what? I got put into another scene! The director actually remembered my name, which is impressive since there are so many people involved in the production and I've only been to three rehearsals. He decided to have the supers do one of the scene changes, which I think is a cool idea. I've seen it done in other operas and I like how it looks. Definitely better than black-clad stagehands skittering about moving things around in the dark. So now I go on as R&J leave after their wedding. I pile a bunch of odds and ends into a basket and carry the basket off. Two other supers take the table, and Sharron (with 2 Rs) takes the chair. I feel like it's so silly to be excited about this and writing all these minute details, but it's really so much fun.

They went through the sword fight a few times, first as part of the run-through, and then a few times silently while the fencing guy (I assume that's who he was...) gave them tips. It looks like a lot of work! There are tons of people all jumping around, clashing swords and pretending to punch and be punched. One guy had to keep falling down flat on his face each time. Ouch!

It's weird being a super. There's a social dynamic that must occur with any production and we're sort of in our own little universe. Everyone seems very nice but I really haven't interacted with anyone except the other supers. I had one very short conversation with one of the singers yesterday about curly hair because we have similarly textured hair. But then the swordfight got a bit too close and she had to move or get stepped on. The chorus members have been rehearsing together for weeks now and all seem to know each other really well. They drape all over each other when they're not on and have all these different little social groups. Some stay in the room during rehearsal, others move to the green room. And the truth is, as outgoing and friendly (pushy?) as I can be, I'm actually a little intimidated to talk to anyone. What's up with that??

I took a bunch more videos and put them up at Photobucket.

Next rehearsal: Friday the 13th! Eek!

R&J Videos

If you didn't see it in Susan's previous post, I thought I'd point out here that she took some fun little videos of the rehearsal process for Romeo & Juliette.

Here is the link:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v259/luindriel/Romeo/

Guest Post 2

Here is a second guest post from Susan:

Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Super R&J Business

I've been to two more rehearsals for Romeo. On Saturday we carried Juliette in and out on that stretcher thing about 5 times. That was a bit much on my arms! But I survived.

Yesterday was the first run-through. Once again it was amazing to hear all the singing! And what was really cool too was that I didn't care that all these extra people were watching. Not that I do anything momentous or requiring any skill, really, but I had no problem taking a deep breath and lapsing into, "Sad, accepting, respectful monk-mode," or, SARMM as I just this moment decided to call it. I hung out for a while after I was done, just to watch. It was such a treat! I wish I understood more French so I could follow the dialogue. Actually, I wish I could sing like that!

I was sitting near the assistant stage manager and she was buzzing with adreniline. She was everywhere at once, grabbing props, cuing people checking the score.

At once point a bunch of guys ran offstage past me and past the stretcher that was leaning on the wall. It started to go over and one of the other supers caught it. I was sitting cross-legged on a chair filming at the time and you can hear me squeak and see my knees come up as I tried to make myself smaller! All the videos are here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v259/luindriel/Romeo/.

Guest Post

We have a guest blogger for us today. Susan Myers, one of our supernumeraries (non-singing extra role) has generously offered to write some of her observations for this blog. She also gave me some pictures and stuff, so I'll post more shortly.

Here's her post from June 24:

Super Duper

I went to the rehearsal this morning for Romeo and Juliet and I'm in as a super! I'm going to be a monk. (Ok stop laughing now, especially those of you who know that I was a nun in my high-school's production of The Sound of Music!) So the opera starts out with a the chorus and a monk lamenting the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The monks (hey, that's me in that brown robe!) bring them in on pallets. I'm one of the 4 who carry Juliet. It's a dancer double, not the opera singer. I'm in the front, near her feet. We bring her on stage and stop at an angle. The 4 other monks come in from the other side with Romeo. The friar uncovers each face, then we straighten out and place the pallets down. The monks near the front of the pallet (hey, that's me!) cross over to the front side of the stage while the friar does his thing (he wasn't there so I'm not quite sure what that is...) and then we come back and carry them out. And that's it, I'm done, as far as I know. We rehearsed with the chorus after lunch and that was awesome. They sound amazing.

After the rehearsal we went to the costume dept to get fitted into our robes. Mine was too long of course, but the sleeves were too short. The costume dept is quite a scene - costumes stuffed onto racks everywhere, and desks with sewing machines crammed in between.

On one of the performance days we're going to see Die Zauberflote at 1pm and then I'm in Romeo that night at 8! A long day at the theater!

What have I been doing?!

So for all of you wondering where I've been, here are some shots of my desk, to which I've been chained for the last 2 weeks or so, working on the program book.

So after a couple of looong weekends and many near all-nighters, the program book is complete and is at the printers, getting ready for opening night (which is this coming Friday)!

I have a ton of backlogged photos that I've taken and a slew of them from a cast member and a volunteer, so stay tuned. In the next day or so you're sure to have MANY posts and images to view.

Nassau Park Pavilion

There was another Preview Concert on Saturday night - this time at Nassau Park Pavilion in West Windsor. The weather was GORGEOUS (much better than last year's deluge) and there was a huge crowd - about 385 people. It was a great night of music - a fewPirates, some Flute, a little Romeo & Juliette and a bunch of Musical Theater - how great does that sound?

You can see more Nassau Park Concert pictures here.

Don't forget that you can catch more Musical Theater THIS WEEKEND at Palmer Square in Princeton: Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2pm.

2 Previews down, 1 to go

So last night there we had 2 previews (one was a mini-concert). The big concert was at the Princeton Public Library and from all accounts it was amazing. There were at least 150 people crammed into the Community Room - since I had only made 125 programs, they had to scramble to photocopy more. You never can tell how many people will show up! As you can probably guess, I wasn't at that concert last night. Instead I went with a couple of our singers and a pianist who were performing a mini, 20 minute concert at Crossing Vineyards in Washington's Crossing, PA. It's a really gorgeous place and we had great weather last night, so it was lovely. We sang just a few numbers at the start of the dinner concert that they were having. We had a great time and we should be back there next year - stay tuned!

Tonight is the Nassau Park Pavilion preview. I'll be there, so be sure to look for more pictures tomorrow. As always, the web album will contain even more photos!