I haven’t been on my web site much lately, but then, I haven’t been doing much of anything lately that isn’t opera related! Cosi Fan Tutte opened this week, and if it isn’t the theater I haven’t been going there; if it isn’t Mozart I haven’t been listening to it; if it isn’t my cheat sheet I haven’t been reading it; and if your name isn’t Don Alfonso or Dorabella, I probably haven’t been talking to you.

We had a ton of rehearsals for this one, and that’s because we’re so VERY important in the production. Well, in our own minds we are, anyway. We play the servants, and we do all the scene changes…and there are something like 16, at last count. Plus we occasionally hang out on stage and look pretty. (Or handsome, for the liveried men.)

It’s been a difficult process because every day we’d go into rehearsal and discover that everything had changed. And then once we started rehearsing onstage, that REALLY started messing everything up. Bill keeps saying that we’ll probably be just about perfect by closing night.

However difficult it is, it’s definitely been great fun. We spend the entire evening on one side of the stage with the same group of people, and with Craig, James, Gerry, and newbies Michael and Andrea on my side, it often gets a bit silly. One of the chorus women “tsked” and rolled her eyes at us one night, which got us going even more. It’s a very stressful show, and it helps to have an outlet for the nerves. But once we’re on stage, of course, we’re all business. It only takes one time of Bernard blaring, “Maaaaaids!” over the loudspeaker to make us shape up.

Which reminds me, Bernard is quite funny. I’ve been in maybe 5 operas that he’s directed, and he’s tough but can also be a lot of fun. He keeps calling the maids “little girls”…add a strong French accent and presto, instant inside joke. One night he was calling us onstage and said, “Little girls…my little girls…oooh, I am like Maurice Chevalier!” I thought that was extremely funny! I couldn’t find my spikes one night and he angrily turned to the nearest stagehand and said, “Fix the tape! This is insane! If I were little girl, I would not know how to find them, either!”

It’s a nice production; the principals are all quite good and the direction is nicely done. The boat that gets pulled onstage by the chorus guys is particularly funny. Add some phallic croissants and pyrotechnics, and you’ve got a Mozart opera.

Pictures from the show are being added daily in the Photo Gallery!