Just shy of 6 weeks to go and where to begin? Rehearsals and the first meet and greet for Jenufa happened today. A fabulous cast is about to begin a journey that culminates on stage on June 6th. The office is beginning to take on a surreal air - props everywhere in stage management - including blood-soaked baby dolls.
And of course, the steel for the new canopy has arrived and will begin to be installed tomorrow. It's frighteningly close. I suppose I have waited 18 years for this moment. There is very little time to get everything done since planning permission only came through recently. It's all hands on deck for the finishing touches once the main structures are up. Then hey presto - test night and then first night.
Ticket sales are amazingly good. L'amore dei tre Re, one of the rarest things you are likely to see in the UK this year is clearly on the way to a total sell out. In the first two weeks of booking, over 30,000 seats are gone for the season. Lakme too is a huge success.
heard from our good friend Sir Denis Forman yesterday. He'll be along for L'amore (always one for the unusual Sir D) and no doubt he'll bring suitably interesting guests as ever. A great man who wrote a great book about opera - hilariously funny yet still retaining a comprehensively educational element. We shall look forward to after show dinner with he and his wife as usual.
Forgive the brevity of this entry but there are plants, gravel, carpets and sundry aesthetic embellishments that need confirming.
