Last Saturday we began “staging rehearsals” for Verismo’s production of The Magic Flute. “Staging rehearsals” are those dedicated periods of time when the stage director gives specific movement to the artists who will be portraying the characters in the piece. And every director has their own style of handling this very important, but potentially tedious installment of the process. Some directors ask their artists to move about according to what feels right to them in that particular moment, and then use those organically created physical moments to shape something that matches the arch of the scene or makes the most desirable stage picture. On the opposite end of the spectrum are directors who know exactly what they want in every single second, and spend “staging rehearsal” time conveying “the how,” “the why” and “the when” to the assembly. And then we have all of the possible combinations in the middle of these two notions, shaped, as I mentioned in my previous blog, by the background of the opera director. An opera director who comes from a dance background might start with “stage pictures,” or certain shapes of artists placed to make a certain point or suggest a mood. An opera director from a more musical background might be more concerned with how an artist is physically placed according to the vocal and/or ensemble components required by the upcoming music. And an opera director from a classical acting background may want to start with the internal motivation of the character, to create movement that feels congruent with the needs and wants of the character in question. But whatever the director’s technique for staging a piece, she or he is as dependent as we all are for oxygen upon the “buy-in” and “willingness to play” of the artists who will be living in the skins of the characters set down by the authors and composers.
In my experience I have used many different directing techniques in order to create the piece floating around in my imagination, dictated by the age and experience of the artists at hand, and sometimes by the span of time a particular production affords for preparation. And I hope that I am able to effectively meld together my various disciplines during my process, and draw on what is necessary to achieve the desired effect. But my favorite way to work is to begin with what I call a “rough block,” which is to tell the artists where I want them to enter the stage, at what points in the scene I would like for them to land at which particular spots on the stage, and finally when I want them to leave the stage, and in what direction. In this way I create basic traffic patterns which tell me pretty quickly if I have missed a step in my imaginings of the arch of a scene. In the case of our Magic Flute, which is highly athletic as we meld the worlds of sports and music, there is also a good bit of choreography thrown into the mix. And here again, I have roughed this out for our artists, so they know generally what I am looking for during a particular section of music.
And then the real fun begins as we start to “run” what we have “staged.” If “The Players” are willing to have fun and try things, I can quickly see what works with the stage picture and the particular scenes’ placement in the arch of the show. Most importantly, we are ending up with movement that is organic to the particular artists, which will always look better, funnier or more poignant because these movements are natural to “The Players.” And what the director is really praying for in these situations is that “The Players” will do too much, that the director will actually have an opportunity to say, “cut that back just a bit.” Because this is SO much easier for the director than finding a way to pull something out of an artist that doesn’t seem to be coming naturally or quickly for them.
I was so delighted this past weekend to watch our artists really jump in and play! This “show-business” is no occupation for someone who is worried about looking silly! And our artists continually surprised and delighted me with their naturally funny sensibilities and unending invention. All of the moments that I had seen in my head, and scribbled about in my score and script, came to life ten-fold as the characters started to jump right out of our artists before our very eyes. And then there is the contagious energy when one artist finds a particular “moment” for their character, and this “moment” informs the response from the next character, and another new “moment” is discovered, almost unearthed, and so on, and so on…
Twice last Saturday I actually had to say, “I’ll need you to tone that down a shade. It’s just a little too much.” TWICE! YES!
When you are in the company of artists at the top of their game who are laughing and having a wonderful, creative time while staying focused on the goal of covering the scheduled scenes for that day’s work, well let me tell you that it is the kind of experience that will send you out of the rehearsal space “Singing In The Rain.” Or snow. Or sleet. Or whatever it is we’re having in Chicago at the moment, as The Winter of 2011 grinds on and on…
I can hardly wait for the next rehearsal! And to see your smiling faces at our performances on March 25th and 27th! Come spend time with our very special “Players.” You’ll be glad you did!
Learn more about Verismo's upcoming performances of The Magic Flute.
Having appeared as Benoit/Alcindoro for Verismo Opera Club’s inaugural production of La Boheme, followed by acting as Narrator for Verismo’s The Passion of Puccini concert event in November, Aaron Hunt will take on the duties of Director for the company’s next outing, a family-friendly, youngster-focused, audience-participation production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
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