The title of this blog is not an indication that mistakes, per se, have been made but a few issues today - as easily resolved as they were at the time -served as reminders that in a whole new build schedule and method, one can run up against the smallest problems that hadn't been considered. In each case a solution that is better than the original idea was found so its all good. And the sun was shining.
The other "oops" is that we seem to have underestimated the appeal of Forza so James is busily trying to see if an extra show is feasible. A good "oops" I think you will agree. Watch this space to find out if he manages it.
The floor of the new backstage was installed today and looks like the centre court at Wimbledon and we'll need a windsock on there just in case any struggling light aircraft try to land on it.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Monday, 5 April 2010
Go forth and prosper
I'm itching for the week to get underway; a long weekend is a challenge when you have a 19 month old who hasn't mastered the art of entertaining herself for more than five minutes. After your five hundredth 'this is the way the lady rides", or you thousandth "row, row, row your boat", builders, trucks, cranes and hammering is idyllic by comparison. And indeed over the next few days we'll see lots of the above.
I got into a bit of a row with somebody over Carmen. She insisted that the Prosper Merimee novella was lovely and moving and, and, and .. I couldn't work out what bearing that had on the fact I find the opera about as tedious as it is possible to and that I don't know of any opera whose characters I could care less about. She launched into a treatise on the wonderful Spanish culture and was undeflected by my pointing out that both the source text and the opera were created by Frenchmen who were indulging in the sort of cultural caricature that we see in the oriental parts of the repertoire. To be honest I was wasting my time; I had been considering reading the Merimee but she has put me right off and I think I will move straight to Hugo's 'Le Roi s'amuse' in preparation for Rigoletto in 2011.
There simply is no point arguing with me about Carmen.
I got into a bit of a row with somebody over Carmen. She insisted that the Prosper Merimee novella was lovely and moving and, and, and .. I couldn't work out what bearing that had on the fact I find the opera about as tedious as it is possible to and that I don't know of any opera whose characters I could care less about. She launched into a treatise on the wonderful Spanish culture and was undeflected by my pointing out that both the source text and the opera were created by Frenchmen who were indulging in the sort of cultural caricature that we see in the oriental parts of the repertoire. To be honest I was wasting my time; I had been considering reading the Merimee but she has put me right off and I think I will move straight to Hugo's 'Le Roi s'amuse' in preparation for Rigoletto in 2011.
There simply is no point arguing with me about Carmen.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Easter
I am afraid that neither Easter nor Christmas carries much religious significance for me personally - if it did perhaps I would enjoy them more. Interestingly (for me anyway) many operas carry a heavy religious content and the struggles with their religious beliefs - or the horrors they commit in His name - that characters endure or enjoy do fascinate me. There are many examples of course but for me this is best encapsulated in Tosca (not the only Puccini with such a plot curve). I don't know many people who agree with my opinion of why Tosca kills Scarpia but I doubt I'd elucidate on it over dinner with a Catholic priest.
By the way I had a nice lunch in Hampstead and won a two foot chocolate bunny in a free raffle. The true message of Easter for most!
I have also been reading some of the articles that have been written for our programme. Along with Tony Holden's lovely story of the process of Da Ponte's creation of the Don G libretto, I was very taken with Michael Tanner's humanist view of Fidelio and he draws a straight line between what Beethoven wanted to convey and the interpretation of the piece by director Olivia Fuchs. It is well known that our production was the first to use Guantanamo as an analogy and it shows, if nothing else, that the world still struggles with the principles of liberty and justice - even a nation founded on those very principles. Interestingly, when I receive letters from people complaining about modern productions, they almost always accuse the director of arrogance, of daring to change what the composer wanted. Well even setting aside the historical contexts and time lines of those composers, I'd venture quite strongly that if he'd been alive to see something like Guantanamo, Beethoven would have declared; "that's exactly what I meant".
By the way I had a nice lunch in Hampstead and won a two foot chocolate bunny in a free raffle. The true message of Easter for most!
I have also been reading some of the articles that have been written for our programme. Along with Tony Holden's lovely story of the process of Da Ponte's creation of the Don G libretto, I was very taken with Michael Tanner's humanist view of Fidelio and he draws a straight line between what Beethoven wanted to convey and the interpretation of the piece by director Olivia Fuchs. It is well known that our production was the first to use Guantanamo as an analogy and it shows, if nothing else, that the world still struggles with the principles of liberty and justice - even a nation founded on those very principles. Interestingly, when I receive letters from people complaining about modern productions, they almost always accuse the director of arrogance, of daring to change what the composer wanted. Well even setting aside the historical contexts and time lines of those composers, I'd venture quite strongly that if he'd been alive to see something like Guantanamo, Beethoven would have declared; "that's exactly what I meant".
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Not guilty as charged
In his Independent column, David Lister has reported a complaint from an OHP patron who has complained about additional charges. David rather dramatically proclaims that our charges have increased the cost of the booking by 22.5%. Terrible I hear you say.
Well, let me explain: the only charges applied by OHP is a 2.50 admin fee on each transaction. So if you spend fifty quid or five hundred, it is the same. If you book online the company who manages our online bookings charges £1 per ticket. Not ideal but on the industry low-side. Therefore it is hard to imagine a 22.5% charge? Actually, no, because what David signally fails to point out is that this patron booked two of our several thousand £10 seats (seats I can assure you we would sell out at three times the price). His booking therefore in total cost £24.50. That for two tickets in fantastic seats for great opera. If he had booked on the phone he would have paid only the two-fifty. If he had bought twenty seats on the phone he would have paid £2.50 and so on and so on. If he had purchased two seats at £57 each he would have paid the same; or in other words 4%.
I understand that people don't like fees but ours are very low and Lister's piece was disingenuous and unfair. I haven't heard him praise us for foregoing over £100,000 in real money in order to make these seats available in the first place. I am beginning to wonder if we should bother at all. No doubt we will be attacked for that too?
Well, let me explain: the only charges applied by OHP is a 2.50 admin fee on each transaction. So if you spend fifty quid or five hundred, it is the same. If you book online the company who manages our online bookings charges £1 per ticket. Not ideal but on the industry low-side. Therefore it is hard to imagine a 22.5% charge? Actually, no, because what David signally fails to point out is that this patron booked two of our several thousand £10 seats (seats I can assure you we would sell out at three times the price). His booking therefore in total cost £24.50. That for two tickets in fantastic seats for great opera. If he had booked on the phone he would have paid only the two-fifty. If he had bought twenty seats on the phone he would have paid £2.50 and so on and so on. If he had purchased two seats at £57 each he would have paid the same; or in other words 4%.
I understand that people don't like fees but ours are very low and Lister's piece was disingenuous and unfair. I haven't heard him praise us for foregoing over £100,000 in real money in order to make these seats available in the first place. I am beginning to wonder if we should bother at all. No doubt we will be attacked for that too?
Friday, 2 April 2010
Bank Holidays at this time of year are not particularly restful; they just slow everything down and I can be a bit of a curmudgeon at this time of year. Frankly that is nothing new since I am quite allergic to Christmas as well. And August Bank Holiday. And May Day....
I've been musing on the age old arguments about updated productions against traditional. If you think I'm going to offer an analysis here you are out of luck: if it works, it works is all I will offer. What got me thinking was seeing a dvd of a Zeffirelli film. He is relevant to the issue because he once wrote a long article in an Italian newspaper in which he fired off a broadside at modern productions. In the course of the article he picked on our production of Tosca from 2007 (which he hadn't seen I hasten to add) and declared it an outrage to end all outrages because we had set it in 1968 and taken, in his view, unspeakable liberties with it. We hadn't of course but whaddya gonna do? His assault on us remains one of our proudest moments.
It is funny how being insulted by famous people can be a source of pleasure. Richard Dreyfuss once told me that he didn't understand a word I was saying on account of my London accent. And I know for a fact that Michael Caine once said "Who the f...kin 'ell is Mike Volpe?"
I've been musing on the age old arguments about updated productions against traditional. If you think I'm going to offer an analysis here you are out of luck: if it works, it works is all I will offer. What got me thinking was seeing a dvd of a Zeffirelli film. He is relevant to the issue because he once wrote a long article in an Italian newspaper in which he fired off a broadside at modern productions. In the course of the article he picked on our production of Tosca from 2007 (which he hadn't seen I hasten to add) and declared it an outrage to end all outrages because we had set it in 1968 and taken, in his view, unspeakable liberties with it. We hadn't of course but whaddya gonna do? His assault on us remains one of our proudest moments.
It is funny how being insulted by famous people can be a source of pleasure. Richard Dreyfuss once told me that he didn't understand a word I was saying on account of my London accent. And I know for a fact that Michael Caine once said "Who the f...kin 'ell is Mike Volpe?"
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