Behind the Scenes with Super Keui-Ming

Posted by Vancouver Opera On 9:31 PM
Feb 20
Today is the first day the supers meet at the Holy Rosary Hall. I enter the humble and friendly rehearsal space, feeling nervous and excited, and am greeted by Sheila, our Stage Manager. She asks me to sign in and gives me a name tag.


As others arrive, we introduce ourselves to each other. Most of the supers already know each other.

Our director Michael Cavanagh gathers us and explains the whole story and the theme to us. He is a very funny man, always cracking jokes and dancing around. As well, the production assistants (Stephen, Beth, Amy and Theresa) are so helpful. I already like the group and the energy in the room.

We walk through 3 scenes and run the movements with piano and a singer. It is fun but we have to stay focused. It is easy to daydream because the music is so beautiful. Luckily, the senior supers like Brett, Jim and Bianca, seem confident in what they are doing.

After the rehearsal, we were asked to walk through the Olympic crowds to the costume shop to take some pictures for a surprise I won't spoil in this entry!

***
Feb 22
Today we rehearse with the chorus. I am amazed how beautiful they sound as a group. Quite angelic.

It is quite a large group today, so we are not yet as open with each other. I am sure we will all warm up to each other as time passed. I still like the way our director humours us. He makes this seems like playing, not working. We run the same scenes we did last rehearsal.

Today is also Jason's (one of the supers) birthday. We sing "Happy Birthday" to him and have brownies and cinnamon swirls at the break. Happy Birthday does sound better with a professional chorus.

***
Feb 24
Today is a gloomy and rainy day, but heading to reheasal cheers me up. The music, the love of performing and the good attitudes of our leaders (Michael, Stephen and others) let me and perhaps others forget the rest of the world hustling and bustling outside and truly be present in the rehearsal hall.

Today we run the banquet scenes again and again. It is a beautifully choreographed scene where move tables around and around like planets and race manically around until we drop dead on the floor. Pretty dramatic! It's all part of the magic.

0 Response to "Behind the Scenes with Super Keui-Ming"