Projects, Productions and People

This past week was full of activities. Monday started off the week with a trip to the opera. Well, a trip to the cinema to see a live stream broadcast of The Royal Opera House's production of Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor. I was excited to see the show because my friend Remi is in it. Remi and I have known each since my grad school days in Glasgow at the RSAMD when we were both on the same course. Remi has a non-vocal role which is called a supernumerary actor in the opera world. He was a servant who bustled about and cleaned up and carried. It was great fun to see him on the big screen and involved in such a notable production. The opera was directed by Katie Mitchell who is a currently regarded as one of the top directors of the day. On Saturday, I was able to catch up with Remi in person and got to hear all about his experiences with the show.

Wednesday brought me to a different kind of musical experience. One of my classmates is working with a production company and was gracious enough to provide some of us tickets to see their latest offering. The show was a musical revue featuring the music of writing team Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire. Closer Than Ever was originally released in 1989 and it was lovely to finally see a production of it. The performance was presented cabaret style in a intimate restaurant with a stage and starred four singers accompanied by a piano and an upright bass. It was a nice night out and good to see a show produced in that kind of format and venue.

Classes, meetings and work sessions made up the rest of the week. Friday was a highlight with the kick off of our musical theatre writing class. I love sinking my teeth into structure and form so I look forward to these sessions. By the end of term, we have to create a 15 minute musical that will be performed at a scratch night in June. What's a scratch night? A scratch night is the term used to describe a public performance of new ideas for artists to test their work on a live audience. Good stuff!

More classes and shows are coming up this week. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, have a look in your region and see if there are any scratch nights on offer where you can get a sneak peek at works in development.

Take care!
-m