Sam's Backup Page

I am home. OPERA IS AWESOME.

I saw a ticketed dress rehearsal of La Clemenza di Tito at the Harris Theatre, performed by the Chicago Opera Theatre (R bailed on me, loser). It was fantastic -- my ear for music is entirely untrained but the performance seemed great to me. Awesome set, great costumes.

Aside from th chorus, there are only two male roles that are actually played by males in the opera: Tito (Titus) and Publio. The other two male roles, Sesto and Annio, are played by mezzo-sopranos. So there was a whole avalanche of soprano, not that I minded. Sesto was all I WILL BE A TRAITOR FOR LOVE OH SHIT I'M A TRAITOR I WILL DIE WITH HONOUR OH WAIT NO I WON'T. And Annio was all HEY THIS IS AWKWARD, HUH?

And Vitellia was kind of crazy a lot, and then nobody died. This is how I prefer stories to end!

It was a good evening. I got dinner at Oysy which is a really nice, informal sushi place. The tempura head of Cthulu I posted earlier was a complimentary accompaniment to the sweet shrimp nigiri I got (I've decided I'm not an enormous fan) and I had Philadelphia Maki as well. You will note that the wasabi is still there, because I tried a tiny bit on some rice and then thought I was dying for five minutes.

Then I went down to Monroe, wandered around, buzzed the Baboon (it's a Picasso, for years I thought it was a lion) which is the traditional location of the Torchwood Chicago hub. Eventually I walked up to the Harris Theatre, where I snagged a front-row center balcony seat for the performance.

I was a bit worried about several things including my total lack of musical acumen, whether I would be able to read the English supertitles and still watch the performers, and whether I'd be able to follow the plot. I managed pretty well, I thought.

And then I took a cab home, where I walked into my flat and was met with a WALL OF HEAT. My radiators may have been up a trifle high.

Now I am going to go die of opera awesome. Scuse me.

First preview of the show was yesterday, and not Tuesday night like I thought.

Production Report:
Dramaturg:
Could the lobby display be attached more securely to the boards?

Well, it would be if I had FINISHED IT. It would also be COHERENT if I had FINISHED IT. Jesus christ, some of the components weren't even printed on the right fucking paper. It would not look like some lame slacker has knocked off halfway through FINISHING IT to go smoke a joint with the sound design kids.

Which I did not do, by the way. I specifically left it until Monday because preview was Tuesday and I needed to finish research for my thesis chapter.

Fuckety fuck.

Monday: FINISH LOBBY DISPLAY, pick up exam materials, go over midterm review notes, cease to loathe self.
Tuesday: Give midterm review (professor's absent), collect essays, write section on drag for thesis chapter, cease to loathe self.
Wednesday: Turn in thesis chapter (godwilling), begin grading papers, cease to loathe self.
Thursday: Give midterm. Give afternoon presentation on play to gang of elderly donors who come for special Elderly Donor Performance. Vomit copiously from stage fright. Cease to attempt to cease to loathe self.
Friday: Commit ritual suicide. Finish grading papers for Tuesday first.

This is the script for the Futurist Theatre piece we had to synthesise in class today. Our theme we were assigned was "The Life of a Graduate Student". I'm not making this up. I typed it directly from my notebook. :D

***

A room. One long oval conference table. Three people. One sits at the table among the audience, frantically but silently flipping simultaenously through two identical textbooks. Two pace around the table, shouting their lines over each other:

ONE
THEATRE! SHOP! OFFICE! TA OFFICE! PAINT SHOP! SOUND LAB! COSTUME SHOP! CLASS! THEATRE! SHOP! OFFICE!

ONE
THEATRE ARTS 593! THEATRE ARTS 596! THEATRE ARTS 602! THEATRE ARTS 638! THEATRE ARTS 700! THEATRE ARTS 820!

All collapse.

Repeat for three years.

***

We love grad school. We also love whining.

I heard this about a week ago when the show opened, but I didn't get around to adding it until now. It's the opening of Midsummer, as rewritten by the director. The faeries each take a few words:

Hail, mortals! Hail, hail, hail! Remember to turn off all cellphones, beepers, watch alarms, and other things that might go BEEP! in the night. Because remember...we know where you're sitting.

(one faerie remains behind)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Please keep your arms and legs inside the audience at all times.

(this last bit because Puck tends to come barreling down the many aisles of the theatre without warning, and if he trips on those hooves of his it's all over for Robin Goodfellow...)