December 2006, New York City -
I just got off the phone from a conversation with Claire Glaskin, who's the choreographer for my upcoming "Orfeo" with Opera North. We've done a number of shows together (and shared a lot of meals, laughs and exciting, if tense, rehearsal moments too). I think of her as Muse as much as Movement Lady, probably because I have an ambivalent relationship with dance in opera. By now, Claire fully expects that, whenever she choreographs an actual dance sequence, I will inevitably cut it. To me, choreography is as much about how somebody sits at a sewing machine, walks over to the coffee machine to re-fill their cup, or cuts herself with a pair of scissors as it is about how they dance together. Forgive me if I'm still a bit fixated on the sewing machines and scissors of "La Vida Breve" - Claire and I just re-mounted that "Little Great" for the Greek National Opera. When we created the production for Opera North in 2004, she choreographed a gorgeous paso doble which was painstakingly taught to everyone in the show and then eliminated by yours truly the next day. I'm not sure Claire has ever quite forgiven me for that, although she certainly appreciates the fact that a lot of the power of that show comes from the tension between the extended stretches of some of the most danceable music ever written and the complete lack of dance in the show.
Actually, there's the possibility of some real dance creeping into "Orfeo", especially for the character known as La Musica, who only sings in the first scene. When I was told that the soprano cast in that role, Amy Freston, trained as a dancer before becoming an opera singer, first I let out a little yelp of glee (I love opera singers who started out as dancers or actors) then I started to imagine that she would be present throughout much of the show, as an ever moving, ever shifting embodiment of Orfeo's muse, his creative urge, his soul, his music - which brings us back to my phone conversation with Claire. She probably secretly suspects that the intricate two-and-a-half-hour interpretive dance she and Amy will create together over the next months will be cut after the last Dress Rehearsal. But she seems to be gamely playing along in the meantime, and she is scheduled to have some preliminary, exploratory sessions with Amy beginning this coming week. They will play around with ideas and images, start developing the movement vocabulary, and give each other advice about what Christmas gifts to buy for that difficult relative.
Claire and I already talked through the ideas, images, events of the production over a few extended breakfasts at our favorite coffee place in Kolonaki Square in Athens last month (OK, we were somewhat distracted by the parade of chic, sexy Athenians passing by our table) but now Claire wondered if I had any inspirations since then. Actually I have, but they've mostly been about Verdi's "Nabucco", Mozart's "Entfuhrung" and Gluck's "L'Isle de Merlin" (you've probably never heard of that one - neither had I when I was approached about directing it) all of which I'm studying, dissecting with various dramaturgs and working on with different designers for upcoming productions in Dusseldorf, Basel and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. Being an opera director sometimes feels like being an air traffic controller, but instead of planes, we're juggling opera productions in various stages of take-off and landing. My conversation with Claire confronted me with the fact that it's time to turn off all my inner electronic devices, return my psychic seat to its fully upright position and focus in on the imminent flight called Monteverdi's “Orfeo,” the First Great Opera Ever Written.
The other way Fate whispered to me that it is time to put Verdi, Mozart and Gluck aside is an encounter I had at a party last night - I was chatting with the South African tenor, Kobie van Rensburg, who had just sung the title role in "Idomeneo" in the Met's Saturday afternoon broadcast. He was telling me about how he has started a second career as a stage director. Now I'm not sure I'm as thrilled by singers-turned-directors as I am by dancers-turned-singers, but Kobie is a smart, sharp, interesting guy. When I told him I was about to start rehearsals for an opera in Leeds, he said he was about to start rehearsals for an opera in Halle, Germany.
"Oh, yeah? What piece is it?", I asked.
"Monteverdi's 'Orfeo'", he answered. "What are you about to direct?"
"Monteverdi's 'Orfeo'", I answered. "When does yours open?"
"February 16th", he answered. "Yours?"
"February 16th", I answered.
I guess there are going to be lots of productions of Monteverdi's "Orfeo" in 2007 - it is, after all, the 400th Anniversary year of the premiere of The First Great Opera Ever Written - but you'll understand if I tell you I was slightly spooked by that conversation. And you’ll permit me to sign off, dear Blogreader, and once again take down from the shelf the old Emmanuelle Haim/Ian Bostridge “Orfeo” CD, put on my headphones, and move into my final phase of preparation.
Comments