Now that we are actually in the run of Porgy & Bess I have some observations. But first, a brief lesson on religion:
Genesis, Chapter I, verse 3: “And God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light.”
Would that it be so easy for us. You see, we seem to have a lighting problem here. Every time we perform Porgy in front of the public at some inopportune time the lights go out in the pit. Last night, our second public performance (though third of the run – Monday was a sponsored night) it happened again. This time right in the middle of Act I scene I the pit lights went out for about 8 seconds. I was just on the verge of calling a halt to matters when they came back on. I was not pleased. Add to that the intestinal cramping I suffered throughout the day and my mood was as black as the cast. The blackout (so to speak) was blamed on a computer glitch but that didn’t prevent me from informing the lighting director that there were to be NO MORE BLACKOUTS AND FRANKLY I DON’T CARE IF IT’S CALLED FOR IN THE PRODUCTION NOTES!!!! They promised that the pit lighting cues would be removed from the computer program by Friday.
Another thought: Dr. Scholls good, hurting feet bad. I know of several opera conductors who sit down in the pit. I’ve seen Barenboim do it, and I believe that Levine does it at the Met. For the record they are not being lazy. Opera is a long slog and the feet start to suffer. I had a hilarious conversation with a very nice young lady at a foot store here. Her English was just as bad as my French but I got the idea across. I now have inserts for my shoes and they help a lot.
Funny things happen on the way through a show now. Various moments of improv crop up, either good or frightening. This being an opera orchestra, when they see the conductor suddenly stop the beat and look up with the “what the hell are you doing?” look on his face they pay very close attention. On-the-fly adjustments to the singers are normal procedure. But it’s the funny moments that really get me. In Act III, as Sportin’ Life is about to whisk Bess away to New York she throws the line “You low crawling hound” at him. Our Sportin’ Life started baying like a dog after that and it was all I could do to not topple into the violins in uncontrollable laughter. It also seems that using dice for props can be a challenge. The whole thing about dice is that they’re random, and they certainly seem to randomly fly around the stage.
All in all the run is going well. The audience reaction has been terrific and I hear rumor we are getting very good press. Today is a day off and I will start preparing for the arrival of my family on Friday. I can’t wait. It has been way too long since I have seen them. More later.
PS. I’ve posted some more video from Lyon on the ESO website here.