Up and galloping

Tuesday night saw us get underway with Don Pasquale...a fantastic reaction from the audience and a respectful one from the press so far with occasional florid praise from certain quarters. Lots of crits to come so we shall see what picture merges. Nevertheless, there is some wonderful singing and comedy gold to be had.

Patrons have been full of praise too, for the theatre  and the large zebras (yes, zebras) look surreal and beautiful and give quite a few shocks as people round various corners! I am growing to love our zebras and at the Fritz dress last night, I barked at two young people who approached them menacingly to have their photos taken with one of them. Don't touch the  zebras!

Speaking of the Fritz dress....well, I know I get emotional about these things and that this repertoire pushes all my buttons but it really is gorgeous. It is delightful for sure, but it has real heart when it matters. And the music....inventive, emotional, huge at times. Stuart Stratford and the CLS rendered the intermezzo thrillingly and powerfully. As for Anna Leese....I think I am going to let you all decide on that one.....but it is a treat, as is Eric Margiore as Fritz, making his London debut. A smashing reaction from the dress rehearsal audience gives us great hope and we cannot wait.

Almost there

I haven't completed this blog for a wee while...the wedding intervened and things have been hectic at the theatre. It looks in great shape and having the orchestra in the new pit has been great although of course giving them such a bright new toy has led to further expectation! Two sitzprobes have been a joy when it comes to the kind of sound we can now produce.

Both of the first productions look terrific. Stephen Barlow's take on Don Pasquale is as well observed as ever and cuts right to the heart of the piece. Annalise Miskimmon's Fritz is delicious fun and throughout both there is some top class singing. Richard Bonynge is bringing masterful delicacy and insight to the music of Donizetti and Stuart Stratford, fully engaged as he is on his Mascagni odyssey, is drawing all the heart and soul from Fritz...including some revelatory detail that I had previously allowed to pass me by; there really is some quite astounding invention in Mascagni's writing.

This weekend is all about cleaning, sprucing up, raking, clipping and flourishes of invention. And then we are off. Wish us luck.

Spliced

So I finally tied the knot with Sally on Saturday. We had a wonderful day surrounded by friends and family. Sally looked gorgeous and Fiora behaved herself, even managing to sleep in the corner of the party for a couple of hours. Things got a little blubby at times and I managed to let the word "shit" slip out during the vows but I had a good excuse. Don't think the registrar was too impressed though. My children did me very proud; Lea gave a speech that, had I been wearing any, would have ruined the mascara and Gianluca sang and played a few songs brilliantly. Sally's brother delivered words from her Dad and sister. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Well neither of mine were.

So it is back to the season build up with the company moving into the theatre with sets arriving to be built soon. The lace is looking better than it ever has so a big round of applause for Kasete Skeen, our operations manager. Things are really taking shape in the rehearsals with two happy companies and great reports. Not long now.

Curtain up

The traditional curtain raiser to the season - the "Prelude" - took place last night with a big turn out of friends and supporters for an evening of fantastic music with singers from the upcoming season. There we some really impressive performances from all of them. It was lovely to see two representatives of Investec Wealth & Investment as well, both attending what is essentially the first event of their sponsorship. It is an event that always feels as though you amongst friends in the very real sense and we are lucky to have such dedicated supporters. Richard Bonynge took time out from rehearsing Don Pasquale to join us and it is most encouraging to hear how positive he is about the production and cast. There is likely to be some fragility in the office today.

James and I are off to record an interview with Ed Seckerson of the Independent for transmission on their website. Links to follow.

Messy

A week of press interviews and photographs beckons.
At the theatre kilometres of cable with pretty lights attached to the ends is being laid and everything seems to need painting. Whilst almost complete, the place still manages to look like a bomb site (well, the house is a bomb site of course!) The continuing good weather helps the cause no end but this being Britain there is always a fear that you end up paying for it at some point along the line. We spend such a lot of time working on the aesthetics of the place - a curious intent I sometimes think, since we are an 'outdoor' venue. I often wonder if I am substantially more concerned about such things than our audience. We had a good site visit with representatives of our new sponsor Investec Wealth & Investment on Friday. They thought the place looked great whilst I spent the whole time apologising for the mess it was in. Perhaps it is best that way?