Andiamo

It's been a day of battoning down the hatches in anticipation of our leaving (on a jet plane) Sunday evening.  At 2:00pm today, the cast of MOSKVA gathered for their final sing-through.  It's a delightful operetta, and is especially surprising given Shostakovitch's catalog of works.  One of the single greatest live musical events I've ever attended is a performance of his Eleventh Symphony, and it's hard to believe that MOSKVA came from the same brain.  Perhaps it's my musical naivete that dismisses the fact that one composer can write both politically-driven symphonies and operettas.  As The Onion would say, stereotypes are a real time-saver.

After the buildup I've given this week, it would rude of me to write today without doling out praise for everyone who helped make last night's performance of ORPHEE possible.  And so, I'd like to say:

BRAVO to the staff of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas for making a change in venue happen so quickly.

BRAVO to the many audience members who set up camp outside University Theater in the early afternoon to be assured of admittance to the performance. By the size of the crowd, you would have thought that The Who were playing University Theater.

BRAVO to Yale Opera's good friend Richard Abrams, who oversaw yet another theatre load-out with his usual good humor.  In addition to his technical prowess, his truck-driving skills have saved me from the inevitable destruction of driveways and loading docks throughout Southern Connecticut this year.

BRAVO to director Rachael Gates, conductor Gerald Steichen, and the musicians of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra for adjusting to a new space quickly and delivering a knockout artistic product.

BRAVO to the entire cast for bringing this piece to life.  Adelaide Muir somehow found a way to do cartwheels and leaps on a tiny stage with a sprained ankle and still knock every high note out of the park.  Ed Parks proved himself a brilliant singing actor, and also repeatedly stuffed his 6'4" frame through a window for comic effect.  Olivia Vote belted the role of L'Opinion Publique with technique and tone that belie her age.  The cast gave new meaning to the word ensemble, and I feel fortunate to have been a small part of it.

And now it's off to Italy.  It's especially exciting for me, because up until recently I haven't had much of a chance to travel internationally.  It was only one year ago at the age of 27 that I first visited a foreign country that doesn't rhyme with "Manada", and now I'm back for round two a year later, accompanied by my wife and an entourage of the finest singers and teachers that the US has to offer.  Hopefully this collection of personalities in my company will allow the Italians to forgive my Italian vocabulary that rivals that of a 3 year-old who was raised in a rural area of Italy by wolves, as well as my poor pronunciation and my embrace of the phrase "Parla L'Inglese?"

And so, as Mimi would sing (okay, I'm stretching for this connection), "Addio, senza rancor."  I'll be back when we touch down in Milan on Monday.

Ciao, Grant