Stepping in it…….

Anyone who has been to France knows that there is one thing that you always have to look out for. It’s not the drivers, or the weather, or the beret wearing old-timer screaming anti-American insults. No, it’s the “merde de chien.” And we have stepped right into it…..

Major rehearsals have begun. We have the choruses – that’s two, in case you’ve lost count, one black, one white – the soloists, two pianists, multiple directors and their assistants ad infinitum, a rehearsal space, the set, three conductors (including the chorus director) …….. It’s starting to resemble a three-ring circus. And of course with this many of “the folk” around things can get crazy in a hurry. For some odd reason there’s this hilarious thing going between me and the guy playing Mingo – we can’t stop cracking each other up. Then there’s the Crown/Bess thing, and the Mingo/Sportin’ Life thing, and the Honeyman/everyone else thing, and the…….

Who in their right mind wants to be an opera conductor? It’s the very definition of masochism. We’ve had double rehearsals the last two days, and we shall continue to have double rehearsals until…. well, probably opening night. Meanwhile, looking at my schedule, i see at least two back-to-back triple rehearsal series. That can’t be right, is it? No. It is.

And we keep getting bogged down in the tutti sections, like Act 1 scene 1, which basically introduces everybody, sets the plot, washes your windows, and starts the whole mess rolling. Honestly, it is the most complicated part of the opera, so we definitely have to get it right. But it makes me nervous. So what to do? The problem is that this is an ensemble opera. Main characters include Porgy, Bess, Sportin’ Life, Crown, Maria, Mingo, Jake, Jim, Serena, Clara, and a host of minor characters (Annie, Lily, etc.). Oh for the good old days of Fidelio, when you’ve got maybe 4 major, maybe 3 minor, and the rest are chorus, and it all gets done in 2 acts. The solution – while various cast members are doing blocking the rest of us are going to do music rehearsals. That’s going to save time in the long run, and hopefully alleviate situations where many of us are just sitting around while the directors try to get the various choruses into place.

Meanwhile, sleeping is an issue. It’s not that I can’t sleep, it’s just that the municipality here in Lyon seems to think that 6 am is the best time to get anything done, whether it be trash collection or re-supplying the Mayor’s office with whatever the hell they were pumping in this morning. The strangest moment was Monday morning @ 5 am when I swear to God there was somebody playing the bass drum and singing at the top of his lungs outside my window. I spent several minutes researching whether Lyon has in their employ a Town Crier. I’m not making this up. And as I write this I can hear some guy yelling at his dog which, surprisingly enough, has taken a disliking to some other canine. Fer Chrissakes it’s midnight!!! Ya gotta love the French. The earplugs are definitely going in tonight.

All I know is that by opening night if anyone even mentions the name George Gershwin I shall probably try to kill them.