Sally brought Fiora into the theatre before the show last night which gave her pause for thought when confronted by hundreds of strangers. Her trepidation didn't last long and soon she was marching around the picnic deck, approaching tables. Some of the diners cooed at the approaching child (unaware that Fiora was simply coveting their food); others had a look in their eyes that you see at airports which more or less says 'oh please God don't let that child be sitting next to me'. They need not have worried because she was off to the swings before the first bell.

Yesterday the eclipse became total as both Sarah and Kate were off sick which doesn't help right now. Things will ease from 'lunacy' to mere 'crazy' once Carmen ends tomorrow. I did a podcast on Francesca da Rimini with Robert Thicknesse and in the editing process had cause to listen again to Zandonai's music. Quite frankly it is staggering at times and his reputation as a ravishingly good writer for the orchestra will be upheld. It actually makes me quite cross to know that this school of composers are neglected at all. Like L'amore dei tre Re, I know for certain that our audiences will be stunned by this music. There is a sense that this latest of all Italian opera managed to distil a hundred or more years of operatic stylistic development into an almost perfect, potent brew. The next four weeks will see excessive evangelical zeal in FDR's cause. It MUST be seen and heard. Pass it on.
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Back again

After two evenings off it is back into the fray tonight with several events at the performance to deal with. The past two weeks have shown the capricious nature of public opinion with wildly differing feedback on the first two productions. Taken across the piece I'd say we have done an average of seven out of ten which given the challenges presented by both Carmen and Pelleas is quite an achievement. The next two productions offer something again and the final two are now also in production; mouthwatering reports emanate from all rehearsal rooms. This also means that we have entered the period known in the office as The Eclipse - when all six productions are 'live'. At this point of the season James manages the not inconsiderable feat of charging around managing the productions whilst simultaneously adopting the Thousand Yard Stare. All of this and the worries of the World Cup to consider. One can easily discern the optimism of the English by looking at the Fidelio sales. All performances are either sold out or down to a last few - except for the one on the evening of the World Cup Final.
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A week has passed since my last contribution to this blog. It was a week of high drama and deluge, heat and great rewards for the company: Pelleas has mesmerised and Carmen has delivered the goods in two utterly different productions that have perfectly encapsulated the versatility of OHP. The challenge that Pelleas presents was made all the more daunting by first night monsoon rain one couldn't help feeling was trying to tell us something. It began to fall at 6pm and didn't cease until we locked the gates five hours later. But the show triumphed over adversity and in particular the CLS played for its lives. We may have a roof but the damp and chill permeate everything and the company fought hard. By the second night of Pelleas, the climate presented us with sun and warmth, like an apologetic, defeated bully. Looking at the forecast, it seems the rain will try again tonight, but it won't win.
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A week has passed since my last contribution to this blog. It was a week of high drama and deluge, heat and great rewards for the company: Pelleas has mesmerised and Carmen has delivered the goods in two utterly different productions that have perfectly encapsulated the versatility of OHP. The challenge that Pelleas presents was made all the more daunting by first night monsoon rain one couldn't help feeling was trying to tell us something. It began to fall at 6pm and didn't cease until we locked the gates five hours later. But the show triumphed over adversity and in particular the CLS played for its lives. We may have a roof but the damp and chill permeate everything and the company fought hard. By the second night of Pelleas, the climate presented us with sun and warmth, like an apologetic, defeated bully. Looking at the forecast, it seems the rain will try again tonight, but it won't win.
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Voila

And so before you know it the season is here and the first audiences (for the dress rehearsal of Pelleas) come through the doors. That dress was accompanied by the familiar rain and summer chill but the weather couldn't divert the impression that Debussy's opera - and this production of it - is unlike anything we have done before. It is easy to see why people are so divided on the piece but it rewards attention and Olivia Fuchs takes us into a deeply unsettling world of endless sadness and impending doom which, despite the flowing mellifluousness and shimmering beauty of the music and the startling images Olivia has created, grips and disorientates like few others do. What audiences and critics make of it we wait to discover with fascination but it is work of a definitive seriousness. Brad Cohen conducts with all the passion he has gathered in the years of his self confessed 'obsession' with the opera

Tiredness is creeping up on the company but perhaps the adrenaline of two first nights will revive everybody? Mournful grey skies are forecast for the opening of Pelleas whereas Wednesday promises blazing sun for Carmen's arrival. Good omens maybe...
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