In production!

Hello all.
I have been woefully delinquent in keeping up with posts! What can I say? Life intervenes. I am just back in Houston after having directed a Magic Flute in Tulsa, and it was a GREAT experience, if a little all-consuming. But now it is ALL DIDO ALL THE TIME!

We are in rehearsals now and I spend my days with the dancers from Dominic Walsh Dance Theater and then work with singers at night... and I tell you, it is just exhilarating watching all these talented people make beauty on a moment by moment basis. I have worked with Dominic on a few shows, and it is such a different world than opera production. Their vocabulary, their timeline, their way of understanding space and their place in it.... it is like being on a different planet... a strange and beautiful planet that takes my breath away, and sometimes makes me laugh out loud.

I just discovered that DWDT has a load of videos on YouTube. Check out this clip from "I Napoletani", a show I stage managed for them last spring. This was one of my favorite numbers in the show. I love some witty dancing, people.

I am prest with torment...

Sorry the posts are a little lean lately... I am in technical rehearsals for a Tosca and frantically prepping for a Magic Flute that I was hired for as an emergency replacement. Ah the glamorous life of a freelance director... ha!

Anyway, in lieu of my directorial ramblings, I offer this clip of Dido's first aria... in a very old-fashioned, lavish production. what a budget. geez.
Many consider Janet Baker to be the definitive Dido. She sounds amazing.

A tale so strong and full of woe...

Part of my research involves seeing other productions of the show. This has become a much less onerous task in recent years because of two wonderful online innovations: Youtube.com (for watching clips online) and Netflix.com (for getting complete movies on DVD).

I thought I might share some clips from Youtube that I found especially interesting!

The following clip is from choreographer Mark Morris's production. I saw a video of the entire show when I was in college, and I must admit, it has greatly affected the way I think about performance in general. I don't love everything about it, but I find it electrifying. I love the repetitive ritual feeling he uses throughout the show. The singers are not pictured (except occasionally when the camera pulls out to include them, standing downstage) and the entire opera is danced...like a ballet.
NOTE: yes, that is a man dancing the role of Dido. It is Mark Morris himself, and he also dances Sorceress in this production, showing that this opera might be viewed as one woman's struggle with opposing aspects of her own psyche.