BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT

Following our work through yesterday, we spent today working in detail on specific scenes. We took the morning off, and started the afternoon with a private coaching for our Mike Teavee, countertenor Jason Abrams.  Peter has written an incredibly amusing and virtuosic parody of a baroque aria for Mike, in which he very creatively uses coloratura to portray a boy obsessed with television violence.  One of the best things about an extended workshop period is the opportunity for singers to work directly with the composer.  Jason actually started an email dialogue with Peter to discuss this aria before rehearsals started, and today, he had the opportunity to work through some of the ideas they discussed with our music staff. It was a very productive session, and by the end of it, Jason was transformed into a very disturbed and funny teenager!

We then moved on to an extended session for Veruca and Lord Salt.  Tim spent most of the session working with Abigail Nims (Veruca) and David Kravitz (Lord Salt) not only on the musical structure of the scene, but also on the fantastic dysfunctional relationship between the spoiled little rich girl and the father that stops at nothing to make her happy.  

After a dinner break, the full chorus assembled for a three hour session with Tim.  The chorus had two weekends of preparation time with our wonderful chorus master Jennifer Peterson before the formal workshop period started last Wednesday. Now that Tim is with us, he is building on the foundation Jennifer laid, and getting them to embody - both musically and dramatically - all of the different roles they have to portray.  In The Golden Ticket, the chorus plays the role of Oompa Loompas, Workers in Lord Salt’s Factory, Townsfolk, and Turkish Nut Sorting Squirrels in Wonka’s Factory…  Is there any other opera in which the chorus play such an wonderful array of characters?  Our chorus is fantastic and is embracing the challenge with an enthusiasm that is contagious!

Tomorrow, more individual scene work, with video footage to follow…  

As promised, today I took the video camera into the rehearsal studio as we did our first work through of The Golden Ticket.  I have to preface this with a note of thanks to our wonderful cast for being willing to share the process on this blog. Rehearsals can range from performance caliber to very bumpy, but I think it can be really interesting for people who are not singers to see into the studio from time to time. Today’s work through went incredibly well, thanks to all of the preparation our wonderful cast has put into the piece.

The session was incredibly productive.  We read through the entire opera from start to finish - stopping along the way to fix some sections, and making notes about other sections that we want to call more extensive rehearsals to address. Ultimately, the main purpose of the run was for the full cast to get a sense of the overall shape of the piece.  We also were able to take preliminary timings and start assessing certain production related factors, like how long we have for scenic transitions.   

The video above features about nine minutes from our three hour work through.  The rehearsal is led by conductor Timothy Redmond, with our Assistant Conductor Brian DeMaris at the piano.  

Tomorrow, the chorus will have an extensive session, and we will work individually with a few singers on their scenes.  Donald and Peter (the composer and librettist of this amazing opera) arrive tomorrow as well, and I feel good knowing that we are well along the way to very polished performance next Saturday.

Do you have your tickets for the showing yet? If not, CLICK HERE to buy them now!

OK, I know I said I’d post daily - It’s day three of our rehearsal period for The Golden Ticket, and this is truly the first time I have a few minutes between rehearsals and grant proposals to quickly let you know what’s going on… I promise to post more regularly from now on…

The first day and a half of the workshop, all singers were provided with individual coachings with a member of our music staff.  Before “throwing them into the fire” with ensemble rehearsals and a work through of the opera (which we will do tomorrow, on day 4), we wanted to give everyone a chance to work through their parts individually with a pianist. After those sessions, which ranged from one hour to four hours, depending on the size of their parts, we started putting scenes together with small groups of singers. Again the emphasis was on gaining comfort with the score, and getting a sense of where each person / character / voice fits into the overall texture of each scene.  Last night, we brought the full cast and chorus together for the first time to work on the finales of Act I and Act II - enormous and exciting pieces that filled the studio with electricity, laughter, frustration, and ultimately, some beautiful music making.  First rehearsals are always bumpy, but I must say I’m incredibly impressed at how well the cast is prepared.

Tomorrow, we will work through the opera.  What is a work through? Well, exactly that. We have two three-hour sessions where conductor Tim Redmond will work through - from start to finish - the full opera with the entire cast and chorus.  Tim will stop and start as necessary to give notes, make corrections and adjustments. The main purpose of the work through is not to polish the piece in any great detail, but  for everyone to get a sense of the piece as a whole  - dramatically and musically.  Only after the preliminary work through will we really dive into fine tuning both the music and the dramatic shape of the piece.  I will be video taping this work through, and promise to post some footage on Sunday so you can get a look into the rehearsal process. 

Of course, while we’ve been having full rehearsal days, I’m busy juggling press inquiries, meeting with potential producing partners, ensuring that grant proposals go out on time, confirming arrangements with our venue, and even sampling deserts for our Wonkalicious reception at Bouchon Bakery on April 4th.   Yes, there are some perks to this job, and chocolate is one of them!

Well, last week was a bit more dramatic than expected!  Just as all of the arrangements for our upcoming workshop of The Golden Ticket were being solidified, my appendix decided it no longer wanted to be a part of my life, forcing me into the hospital for an emergency appendectomy!  Fortunately, they got it out before it burst, and I’m rather amazed that they were able to take care of it with a few tiny incisions. Must say, I’m glad I didn’t have to go through this 30 years ago in less sophisticated medical times! Other than an achey belly button, I’m back ‘in the saddle’ so to speak, and very grateful to my artistic staff - especially chorus master Jennifer Peterson - who were able to keep everything moving forward during my absence.

Today, I am confirming all of the little logistical details for the workshop, and issuing the first four days of rehearsal schedules so that the cast can have a sense of the intensive days ahead.  Our fantastic conductor Timothy Redmond arrives tomorrow, and Wednesday, we’re off to the races (or the opera!). Once we get started on Wednesday, I’ll be posting daily from the rehearsal studio, and inviting our guest artists to make posts about the workshop process. We also plan on posting rehearsal video throughout the workshop, so come back often!

In the meantime,  ALT was featured in some pretty prestigious company in an article about new opera published in Opera America magazine. I’m so grateful to all of the artists, administrators, and of course, donors, who have helped ALT to have a real influence on contemporary American opera.  The best is yet to come…

One of the most common questions people ask me is, “How do you cast an opera?”  The answer isn’t simple, as there are so many factors that go into making casting decisions depending on the nature of the project and who is involved, but I’ll try to address this question by looking at a specific example: the casting of Veruca Salt for our upcoming workshop of The Golden Ticket.

As ALT is co-producing the world premiere with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, I felt it very important that Jim Robinson (who is both Artistic Director of OTSL, and the stage director for the production) have input into the casting of our workshop.  As I explained in an earlier post, singers cast in the workshop are not guaranteed to move on with the production, but we certainly want to cast the workshop with an eye towards the future. 

In mid-December, I put out a casting notice to Artist Managers with details of the workshop and future plans for the opera. We also included a casting breakdown, which provides them with information about each role, including the vocal range and certain vocal and physical characteristics we are looking for in each role. For Veruca, we wanted to find a young-looking Mezzo Soprano with considerable range (c’ to b”) and who also could embody the character of a spoiled rich little brat!  We received 37 submissions of singers to consider for this role.  Of those 37, we asked to hear 8 in live auditions in January.  To narrow the number down from 37 to 8, I consulted with Jim and the music staff at OTSL to see which of the submitted singers they might be familiar with.  Our own music staff was also familiar with many of the artists.  By looking at their previous professional experience (including roles sung and the companies with which they sang those roles), as well as a certain degree of typing-out (the process of narrowing down candidates by physical characteristics - in this case we definitely wanted a young looking singer who was not too tall) we selected the 8 singers to hear live.  Jim and I were familiar with some of those singers, while we had never heard others.  We always remain open to discovering new talent, and this is exactly what happened in the case of Finding Veruca Salt.  Enter Abigail Nims.

Abigail auditioned for us on January 7th.  For the auditions, we requested that each singer bring at least one contemporary aria in English (as this demonstrates diction and ability to communicate effectively, as well as their comfort level in contemporary musical idioms), as well as other arias that they feel best show off their voice.  We give each artist the option to choose their first aria, and if after their first aria we feel that we want to hear them sing something else, we typically choose a contrasting aria.  In this case, we videotaped the auditions so that they could be reviewed by Peter and Donald (the composer and librettist of The Golden Ticket) who live in London. Abigail very graciously has allowed us to post her audition here, so you can get an inside look at what the audition process is like.  Thanks also to Curt Pajer, her wonderful pianist, for allowing us to post this.

Abigail chose to begin with “Things change, Jo” from Mark Adamo’s opera Little Women.  Having directed Little Women myself a few time, I am very familiar with this challenging piece.  It shows a singer’s range, as well as her ability to make sensitive musical and dramatic choices .  As such, many Mezzos now use this aria in auditions, and we hear it often.  Abigail’s singing of the aria really grabbed my attention.  First thoughts: a beautiful voice, well produced, clear diction.  Second thoughts: very expressive, successful at communicating the character’s situation in the opera (which is a challenge to do in an audition room), and lovely musical choices.  Third thoughts: Charismatic. I want to hear more.

This led Jim and I to ask Abigail to sing a second aria.  She had a few to choose from on her list (forgive me but I forget all of the options).  Jim asked to hear “Smanie implacabile…” from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.  This is an excellent choice for potential Verucas, as it shows some of the fire that this character requires, not to mention that Mozart also shows off the voice.  Abigail immediately engaged both Jim and I in the recit to the aria, and kept our attention throughout.  Again, we heard a beautiful timbre, and saw a well thought-out characterization.  I could immediately start picturing her as Veruca. Here was the combination of charisma, fire and vocal beauty that we needed.

We continued our auditions the following week, and by the end of the auditions, Abigail stood out as the clear first choice for Veruca in the workshop. I thought it would give all of us involved in the project a chance to hear her in the complete role, and Jim agreed that she was an ideal Veruca prospect.  With that in mind, I sent this video of her audition to Peter and Donald. They agreed she had what we were looking for, so we offered her the role.

I am, of course, very happy that Abigail is joining us for The Golden Ticket.  If you want to hear Abigail create Veruca Salt in the workshop, get your tickets as soon as possible! She is just one of the stellar singers who we will be working with on this exciting project…

Over the weekend, we began assembling the preliminary schedule for the entire workshop of The Golden Ticket.  Our sessions will begin in less than two weeks, with Chorus Rehearsals for the men who take on the daunting task of creating some of Dahl’s most beloved characters: the Oompa Loompas! Donald and Peter have expanded the Oompa Loompas’ role since our last workshop, and I am very excited to hear the new scenes they have created.  Beyond Oompa Loompas, the chorus also assumes the roles of factory workers in Lord Salt’s factory, townsfolk, and the gifted, slightly aggressive nut-inspecting squirrels inside of Wonka’s factory.  Before we begin our rehearsals with principals on March 25th, the chorus will have rehearsed for a total of 20 hours. Jennifer Peterson, our chorus master, has her work cut out for her, but our workshop chorus is comprised of 12 incredibly strong singers, and I have no doubt they will be very well prepared by the time Tim Redmond arrives on the 25th.

Now I dive into the challenging task of putting together a preliminary schedule for our rehearsal period between March 25th and April 4th.  Ten days might seem like a long time for a workshop, but the times flies quickly, and the music is challenging! All of the singers received Act 1 of the opera over a week ago, and we just sent out most of Act 2 to everyone Saturday. (Two scenes are still being edited by Peter, but we expect to receive them this week).  We are very fortunate to have Christopher Burchett reprising the role of Willy Wonka in our second workshop. Chris (pictured below in ALT’s Opera in Eden Showcase at Symphony Space) has a gorgeous voice, is an exceptional musician and actor, and is a very generous colleague. His experience with the piece in such a huge role will definitely make putting the workshop together a lot easier than it would be otherwise.

Scheduling is a delicate art. We want to rehearse as much as possible, but we can’t exhaust the singers, pianists or conductor. No artist is called to more than six hours of rehearsal a day. We have two rehearsal studios at our disposal: a very large hall that easily accommodates the full cast; and a smaller studio that is more appropriate for one-on-one or small group coachings. During the first two days of rehearsal, we like to provide one-on-one coaching for each singer with our music staff before we start to put together scenes with multiple characters.  We schedule these one-on-one coachings based on the size of each role during these first two days, and then we estimate the amount of time we expect it will take to put together each scene in the remaining rehearsal days.  Though we put together a draft-schedule for the entire workshop period, it inevitably gets changed based on degree of preparation of each artist and the complexity of each scene and part. I’m always pleased when we can move forward more quickly than anticipated, but have to build in ‘buffer-time’ to ensure we can deal with any unexpected things that arise.  In addition, as it is a workshop, we often come across sections with which we want to experiment.  The collaborative relationship with all of the artists helps solve problems or challenges that are not apparent when just looking at the score on the page.

Two weeks ago, all of the invitations went out to our producing partners (confirmed and potential). Last week, we put a small number of tickets on sale to the public.  (Note there are a limited number of tickets which will only be sold in advance.)  This week, invitations go out to funding prospects. This workshop serves multiple purpose for us: to further explore the piece artistically; to allow the production team (director, choreographer and designers) to continue their work on the production itself; to show the opera to other opera companies who will be co-producing OTSL and ALT; and to introduce potential funders to opera and let them know our production plans in more detail.  So, while the workshop is structured in the way it is for artistic development, it has to serve other purposes as well!

As I was sitting in a production meeting this afternoon at one of the two venues we are considering for the future production of The Golden Ticket in New York City (I can’t tell you which ones quite yet…) my mind began to wander.  Not that the scheduling and budget considerations were not riveting, but I began to think of how much I needed to get back to my desk to deal with upcoming deadlines!

As a small non-profit organization, ALT doesn’t have an extensive full time staff.  Our staff is small by design - lower administrative fixed costs allow us to spend more of the money we raise on programs, and I am committed to keeping administrative costs down.  That being said, there is only so much time in the day, and a lot to be done.

Preparing for our upcoming workshop began last fall, but as we get closer to our first rehearsals, there are still some issues to be ironed out.  We have assembled an AMAZING cast for this workshop, many of whom we expect will move on with the production, whether at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, or with ALT and other company partners.  Singers who participate in a workshop do so for relatively little compensation, especially considering how intense the workshop period is.  While we pay our artists more than actors are typically paid for workshopping plays and musicals, I wish it could be more.  They are crucial to the development process, and without their generous commitment, we would never be able to do what we do.  

Putting together this cast began with auditions in the late fall, and continued all the way up to last week when we were hearing boys for the role of Charlie.  We coordinated our auditions with Jim Robinson, Artistic Director of Opera Theater of Saint Louis, because as he is going to direct the World Premiere, we wanted his feedback on the singers we were considering.  Peter and Donald (the composer and librettist of The Golden Ticket) live in London, so we videotaped all of the auditions, and after I did an extensive pre-screening, I sent video footage of the prospective candidates for each role. In some cases, there was a clear first choice. In others, there were multiple singers available who would do the role brilliantly.  We considered a lot of factors in making the casting decisions: ability to sing the role; musicality;  vocal timbre; potential to embody the character; acting ability; English diction; availability for the full workshop period; and potential availability for the premiere and subsequent engagements. For workshops, we generally engage local singers simply due to budgetary restrictions. In addition, some singers who we know we want to have sing the premiere were not available for the workshop dates, so we had to identify other artists for those roles.  

All of the singers commit to being in the workshop without any guarantee that they will move on with the project.  This just goes to show how incredible these singers really are.  Of course, in an idealistic world we’d love to keep everyone on board, but part of the purpose of the workshop is to hear prospective cast members in the full role for which they are being considered. At our last workshop of The Golden Ticket (in May 2007), we had an incredible group of singers to whom I am deeply indebted. They embraced the score with a passion and professionalism that any company director would welcome.  They also sang the hell out of the score, and allowed all of us involved with the piece to hear the areas that needed to be reexamined and refined.  It was an incredibly rewarding and useful process, and I have hired many of those artists since that time; but ultimately, only two of those singers were invited back for this upcoming workshop: Andrew Drost as Augustus Gloop, and Christopher Burchett as Willy Wonka.  Still, both Andrew and Chris know they may not move on with the production, or that they may perform it at some companies and not others, but their commitment to the piece, to Peter and Donald, and to ALT, is appreciated more than I can ever express. 

For this workshop, I had to hire 12 principal artists, including a boy to sing the role of Charlie.  That will be the subject of a future post, as “finding Charlie” was one of the most challenging, and ultimately rewarding parts of preparing for the workshop.  We also have to hire a full ensemble for the chorus and comprimario roles, and we are close to having all of those artists engaged as well.  

Beyond singers, we need a conductor, an Assistant Conductor, and a Chorus Master to bring things all together.  We are thrilled that Maestro Timothy Redmond will be joining us for the workshop, as he has been engaged to conduct the world premiere in St. Louis.  Tim is one of the most exciting young conductors around, and he will be making his American opera conducting debut with The Golden Ticket.  He is particularly well known in the UK and Europe for his work in contemporary opera, having brilliantly conducted Ades’s Powder her Face at both The Royal Opera and the Mariinsky Theater.   Tim will be supported by Brian DeMaris, a gifted young conductor in his own right, who was our principal pianist on the 2007 workshop.  Jennifer Peterson rounds out our music staff in the role of Chorus Master, a role she has taken on before for ALT in previous workshops for our Composer Librettist Development Program taught by Mark Adamo.

So, 12 principal singers, 12 members of the ensemble, 3 music staff - ready to go? Not quite.  Still, there are those annoying little details like making sure we have the best possible rehearsal space (which we do have), preparing score materials for all of the artists (even as new pages keep coming in!), coordinating rehearsal schedules and travel arrangements for our guests from London (almost complete…), inviting current and prospective funders (a crucial and never ending job), finalizing venue details for the public showing (like piano position and where the video camera should be placed), and even discussing Wonka inspired deserts with the pasty chefs from Bouchon Bakery for our post-reading reception (perhaps, the most enticing little detail remaining!).  And then there are those non-workshop related tasks, like pending grant proposal deadlines for the NEA, NYSCA, and the New York Department of Cultural Affairs!   Just when I think I’ve finished what I need to do for the day, another email pops into the inbox, begging me to work just a little bit longer… in fact, I’ve heard that pesky little inbox noise 4 times while blogging this evening!

It may be a day or two before my next entry, but in the meantime, I recommend you check out a wonderful blog post that my colleague Kim Witman at Wolf Trap Opera recently wrote about their workshop of a new commission they are spearheading. I can only imagine how little sleep Kim has gotten over the past few weeks!

Over the past two years, I have become an enormous fan of many Blogs.  It is a wonderful way to not only share interesting information, but also a way to engage in a dialogue about many different topics.  So why a Blog for ALT? What do we have to contribute to the Blogosphere?

Well, hopefully, a lot!  ALT’s mission is to develop New Operas for New Audiences.  Our programs include the only full time mentorship program for emerging opera composers and librettists in the country, as well as the commissioning and development of new operas for production by ALT in New York in partnership with some of the country’s leading opera companies.  While there are many wonderful Blogs on operatic topics, I have yet to see a Blog that really goes behind the scenes and explores the process of developing new operas, as well as the development of the artists who are writing those new works. BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT is intended to do just that - to let you see into our process at ALT, and to invite you to participate in the discussion about New Opera.

The launch of this Blog comes at a particularly exciting time in ALT’s development as a young company.  Our first mainstage commission is The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Roald Dahl’s beloved book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”  ALT commissioned the completion of this work from American composer Peter Ash and  Donald Sturrock in partnership with Felicity Dahl, Roald Dahl’s widow.  The Golden Ticket has an interesting back story that begins before ALT was founded in 2005. We’ll get into that in upcoming posts! Since ALT commissioned the completion of the opera in 2006, Peter and Donald have developed their piece from a “diamond in the rough” to a truly spectacular opera.  Why are we so excited about The Golden Ticket? Take a look at this video introduction to the opera and I think you’ll hear why…

ALT will be producing the final developmental workshop of The Golden Ticket from March 25th to April 4th, 2009, which will culminate in a public reading of the opera at 7:00 PM on Saturday April 4th. Tickets for the reading are available online by clicking HERE.  As we prepare for this workshop, we thought this would be the perfect time to introduce BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT.

We are also very excited to announce a new collaborative relationship with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.  OTLS will present the World Premiere of The Golden Ticket in June 2010, directed by James Robinson.  After the premiere in St. Louis, the production will travel to multiple venues in the US and abroad.  As those production plans develop, we look forward to sharing those details as well.

So what else can you expect from BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT?  Much more…  We will be tracking the continued development of The Golden Ticket, as well as other new works in the ALT pipeline. We will feature guest entries by the composers and librettists writing these works, as well as entries by the  singers, conductors, directors, designers and producers involved in their development. During rehearsal periods, I will be posting video clips from rehearsals, as well as BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT video interviews. We will also explore producing considerations beyond the artistic, including fund raising and marketing.

I also would like to hear from you… what would you like us to explore on BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT?  Please let me know if there is a specific topic related to the development of new operas, or to any of our specific projects, that you would like us to explore here.  

Thanks for reading, and come back often!