So I leave for Europe in less than two weeks, and I think I’m on track. I do have a list a mile long of things to think about, but they are getting picked off one by one. I worry about packing, although I’ve gotten pretty good at it – I don’t pack light, and on this trip, I’ll definitely need two big pieces of luggage – not only for clothes and stuff, but for the music scores (and the CPAP machine). Other trips, I’ve trusted to luck with the scores and packed them in the checked luggage, assuming that the luggage would not disappear. But I think this time I’ll put them all in a tote bag and bring them on the plane with me… but leave room in the suitcase so once I’m off the plane, they can be popped in there so I’m not dealing with a knapsack and a tote bag and two (rolling) luggages.
The orchestral parts are my big focus right now. I’m sure I’ve nattered on about this before, but Ruddigore, alone of the G&S shows, has two basic versions – the one that premiered in the late 1800s, and then a trimmed-up edited version that was prepared for the first revival some decades later. Traditionally, the trimmed-up, snappier version is what societies have performed, but since the release of the scholarly Oxford University Press scores (edited by my sometime-colleague and FB friend David Russell Hulme), productions have had their choice.
I borrowed orchestral parts from a local company – and they correspond to the snappy version, which is mostly what we’re doing. But, clearly, the last production the did used the other score – which mean each part had all these changes and taped-in extra music throughout – which I had to painstakingly remove. (note to other conductors: you can – and should – modify orchestral parts using post-it type paper – and it doesn’t destroy the underlying print when you remove it) So I did that, and am now erasing all these pencil markings from previous productions. Normally, you don’t necessarily have to do that – but one of the conditions of the G&S festival is you only get 3 hours to rehearse the orchestra, the day of the show, so those parts better be as unambiguous as possible – and only marked and edited the way you need them.
So… I bought a bunch of erasers, borrowed a small round folding outdoor table and chair from the building’s basement. and am spending a lot of time in the ‘maid’s room’, smallest room in the apartment, with a rug that’s already moth-eaten, so I can brush eraser crumbs off onto the floor and not worry about it, although I will vacuum them up later.
Meanwhile, I’d already spent quite a bit of time scanning the full score so I could make my own larger version I could mark up. (I sent the files to Staples to be printed 11×17.) I don’t have all those printed pages back yet, but the process then will be to:
- assemble the full score
- mark it up with the major changes
- use that as the basis to mark up each individual part…
- … including the two numbers we’re inserting, and one minor added repeat.
Luckily, I don’t have to do this to all the parts – but I need one string part per stand, plus one spare at least erased if not prepped, and the winds and brass and percussion parts. Again, this is all happening on schedule and will be done in time, but it’s a slog.
This past week, Light Opera of New York (LOONY), presented “Iolanthe, or Peer Pressure”. It’s a revival of a goofy version of Iolanthe they’d put together about twelve years ago. I knew pretty much the entire cast and most of the audience. Iolanthe is G&S, of course, one of the best, and I’ve actually seen or sung in several performances of it this year. The conceit of this show was that it’s a rehearsal, but they keep losing directors, and the new director finds out that the cast has been allowed to put their own style and spin on the show and the music. So the fairies are now the “Staten Island Fairies”, kind of a tough girl group, the peers are now a barbershop quartet, the lovers are a folk singer and a country singer, the patter baritone is now a pompous Shakespearean actor, and the bass who opens the 2nd act is now an Elvis impersonator.
It could have gone in a number of directions, but I laughed my ass off, so I guess it was worth it. (I took Susan and she enjoyed it too.) I don’t think it would have been that much fun unless you knew “Iolanthe”, but I had a great time. My favorite bit is when, in the 1st act finale, they sang the Iolanthe lyrics, but used the tune of “Loch Lomond”, which (we hadn’t realized until now) is very similar to the tune Sullivan wrote. I practically fell off my chair. After the ‘director’ stopped the cast, one actor retorted, ‘well, you said you wanted ‘traditional’, and that song’s pretty old…’
Speaking of Susan, she’d very thoughtfully put in Charles’s name to be recognized and prayed for at a mass at her church this past Saturday, so I went with her to that. The church is in Whitestone, so that was interesting, and the service was lovely. Then she took me to “Biscuits and Barbecue” on Long Island, which was a lot of fun.
Entertaintment, as the queens would say – I’m nearly done with RPDR Season 15. I can’t say I’ve fallen in love with any of the queens, but that’s OK. I’ve been doing a rewatch of the 1995 Pride & Prejudice miniseries, so good. And last night, I decided to pick a movie off my ‘to watch’ list, Absence of Malice. I’d never seen it before. I had it in my head it was a courtroom drama, but it’s not at all. Great cast and director, but I can’t say I loved it. Maybe if I want a courtroom drama, I should rewatch Jagged Edge, a movie in which Glenn Close’s outfit randomly changes during the same trial scene.
Enjoy the week, if not the weather!
The Toast Point Page 