The Medium – Performance day.

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Kelly Medford, a plein air painter from Italy picked up the extra ticket I had to see The Medium. Italians love opera. I arrived early knowing I would like to start blocking in a view from the upstairs balcony. This “God’s eye view” seemed appropriate for the seance scene. When I arrived, the valet was quick to take my keys. Parking would be tight since this was a private residence. Admission to this rare staging was by invite only. I had my invitation in my bag but by now everyone knew me.

I rushed up the grand staircase and got to work. I leaned against a marble pillar as I sketched. Kelly arrived and I was pleasantly surprised when she pulled out her own sketchbook. She moved a folding chair to where she was working and I decided to grab one myself. I stepped on it and used my horizontal calf as a table to steady the open sketchbook. I had a book-light but realized that I didn’t need it since the afternoon sun warmed the room.

Frank McClain announced that they were going to wait a few moments for more people to arrive. Baba said something similar to her guests before the seance began in Act I. Out the top of the tall windows I could see the lake. I joked with Kelly that the delayed guests must be arriving by boat. She said, “Or they are arriving by seaplane!” Frank, seated next to me, dimmed the lights and the room grew quiet.

Monica and Toby began the act in a playful scene of fantasy. Baba interrupted their play when she entered loudly. Monica ran to her room and Toby cowered. Baba’s every movement was threatening. She was larger than life. She drank heavily and when she whipped Toby, anger rose in me. Her every frustration was unleashed on that poor adopted boy. The performance flowed effortlessly. I was surprised that I finished my sketch early so I put it away and leaned forward on the railing, looking down.

Baba, played by Susan Neves was singing about the horrors she had witnessed in her life. When she sang, “Oh God, forgive my sins, I’m old.”, I identified with her growing madness. “Old Black Swan” is my favorite aria from the show. First Monica, played by Shannon Jennings sang it then Baba sang it in the last act. It is a haunting melody. I was glad the sketchbook was tucked away. I let the music wash over me.

After the performance there was applause. I stood and clapped loudly. The audience below me was hidden. There was deserts and port in the parlor afterwards. The port came in the tiniest little glass stemware. The sweet liquid warmed my throat. I had to raise a pinky to drink it. I couldn’t have just one. I couldn’t resist swirling the alizarin crimson liquid in my cup. Unfortunately it slipped over the edges into my hand. I did that twice and then finally washed my sticky hand in the kitchen sink. I recognized many of the people in the room from the days when opera thrived in Orlando. Besides the exclusive residential productions, the show will be staged at the Orlando Repertory Theater on December 3rd at 7:30pm and December 4th at 2:30pm. You can get tickets at floperatheater.org or call 407 718-4365. Opera is back!

The Medium – Dress Rehearsal

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I returned to the spacious mansion in Winter Park to see the dress rehearsal for Gian Carlo Menotti’s, “The Medium.” Robin Stamper, the pianist asked actress Susan Neves how she felt. “I feel comfortable.” she said. “I’ll do the best I can at this point in time and if there is a mistake, I’ll be able to fix it for Saturday’s performance.” Frank McClain, the director, on the other hand was nervous. There were thousands of infinite details that had to fall into place to make the performances perfect. This was to be the first run through with all the lighting and props.

Frank let me know that six people had bid on and won the chance to see the dress rehearsal at a fundraiser. When the door bell rang, Frank shouted out, “Places everyone!” The six winners entered and Frank spoke with them for a while. Kathy Miller was a warm inviting hostess offering wine and cheese. None of the women had seen an opera before. Frank let them know that they were in for a treat. Frank warned the small audience that there was one gun shot in the show and no one could be hurt. I knew as I started the sketch that I wanted to catch Shannon Jennings singing “Old Black Swan.” Her performance was mesmerizing. When the seance began, I couldn’t resist sketching that as well. Unfortunately Brent Reilly Turner as Mr. Gobineau is mysteriously missing from the sketch. I had already painted the black piano which made it impossible to sketch his face. The only solution was to leave his chair empty.

In the final act, Susan as Baba grabbed the gun from a dresser drawer when she was startled awake by David Grindrod as Toby. She waved the gun around as if aiming at ghosts. Several audience members flinched. The gun fired with tragic consequences. When the actors each came out to bow after the show, Susan Neves got the loudest applause. Of course with such a small audience, the applause felt polite rather than thunderous. I absolutely loved the production. Something about the intimate setting gave it added punch.

Frank gave the cast his notes. Regarding makeup, he felt Susan looked too beautiful in the final act. Susan didn’t fully agree with the premise that Baba was a heavy drinker. In one scene she forgot to bring her bottle of liquor with her. She was supposed to take a heavy swig from the bottle. She added, “You didn’t read clause 451A in my contract which states, ‘I must be the most beautiful one 0f all‘”. Frank and the cast laughed. Bobbie Demme San-Filippo doing make up agreed to add darker rings under Susan’s eyes. There were many more subtle staging notes but, as an audience member seeing the show for the first time, the production seemed flawless. After two years of darkness, opera is back in Orlando!

The show will be staged at the Orlando Repertory Theater on December 3rd at 7:30pm and December 4th at 2:30pm. You can get tickets at floperatheater.org or call 407 718-4365.

The Medium Rehearsal

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The Florida Opera Theater has come up with the brilliant idea of staging “The Medium” in a gorgeous Orlando mansion. This exclusive production was by invitation only. I drove around an upscale part of Winter Park in the evening searching for house numbers. My GPS on my cell phone showed where the mansion was but I drove up and down the street many times as I hunted. I finally went down a tiny unmarked one lane road that cut in towards a lake. At the end of the road was a large iron gateway and the number I was seeking was on a mail box. The long driveway lead to a circular turn around where the actors cars were parked. I opened a courtyard entry gate and walked toward the immense mansion. Warm light spilled out of the cut glass of the front door. Water cascaded down a series of steps of a fountain that ran the length of the walkway. I rang the doorbell and tested the knob. It was open. The entryway opened up into a vast vaulted ceiling where a large chandelier hung. The opera was being staged in this grand space. A second floor balcony looked down on the set. Folding chairs were set up around the edges of the room.

Director, Frank McCain, welcomed me. The last production I had seen him in was, “War of the Worlds“. Susan Neves as “Baba” and Shannon Jennings as Monica were standing near the grand piano played by Robin Stamper. Scenes were rehearsed out of order, but for once, I knew the storyline since I had done my research when I did the illustration for the program. In one scene, Baba wanted to force Toby, played by David Grindrod, to leave. Monica defended him saying he needed them. She was instructed to grab Baba’s arm in the argument. In the heat of the moment, she grabbed the wrong hand and Baba shouted in pain. This wasn’t in the opera, Susan was in real pain. A previous accident had resulted in a broken clavicle and now her twisted arm had pinched a nerve. Shannon apologized and hugged her. Luckily it was a minor incident. The show must go on. In an other scene Susan had to take a swig of alcohol and she choked because she had just been singing and it went down the wrong pipe. It wasn’t really alcohol.

Frank pulled a starter’s pistol from out of a drawer on set. He let everyone know it wasn’t real and that they wouldn’t fire the caps until the next evening’s rehearsal. He told Susan she should never point it towards the audience. It looked very real. In such an intimate setting, I could imagine people diving for the floor if she did. In a later scene she pointed the gun towards the puppet theater where Toby was hiding. She threatened to shoot and when she did, she said, “Pichoo, Pichooo!” In a dramatic moment of shock and horror, she dropped the gun to the floor. It burst into a dozen pieces. “Oh God! I’m so sorry!” she shouted. Once again real life drama seeped into the rehearsal. Frank and Bobbie Demme San-Filippo, the props master, struggled to put the gun back together.

Shannon was enchanting as she performed “Monica’s Waltz“. I knew I needed to return to sketch her as she sang “Black Swan” which was absolutely haunting and would make a great sketch. Susan Neves roll as Baba was very physical and exhausting. After a full run through she was spent. She searched for a cookie for a quick sugar rush. Samantha Barnes sang off stage as the voice of the dead. She found the best spot to sing was from was an upstairs bathroom which gave her vocals a haunted echo. Being so close to the cast as they sang and performed was exhilarating. This idea of bringing opera to intimate settings was pure genius. This promises to be a show that will make the hair stand straight up on your arms.

The Medium

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This is an illustration done for The Medium, an Opera written by Gian Carl Menotti. Florida Opera Theater is staging this opera in a private home here in Orlando several times this month. Terry and I used to attend the opera regularly. The Opera went bankrupt and closed shop several years ago. It is nice to see opera making its way back thanks to the grassroots efforts of Florida Opera Theater. Frank McClain is directing the production and I hope to sketch several rehearsals. Great art forms never die.

The opera is about a psychic medium, Madame Flora who is a fraud and drinks too much. She used her own daughter, Monica, to trick a woman into believing her is the woman’s dead child speaking from the other side. Flora took in a mute servant boy named Toby, but she is often enraged with him. Toby and Monica are attracted to each other, which becomes evident as they play a game of dress-up together. At a second seance, Flora seems to legitimately hear voices. The experience frightens her. She blames Toby and is infuriated that he doesn’t confess. As with many operas, there are tragic consequences. The fact that all the songs are in English makes the opera very accessible.

Besides the exclusive residential productions, the show will be staged at the Orlando Repertory Theater on December 3rd at 7:30pm and December 4th at 2:30pm. You can get tickets at floperatheater.org or call 407 718-4365.

Red Chair Affair

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Terry and I arrived early to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre for the VIP main stage food, drinks and silent auction bidding before she show. Food was provided by Charley’s Steakhouse, Moonfish, Johnnie’s Hideaway, Vito’s Chop House, Fish Bones, and White Wolf Cafe. Organic draft beer was provided by Orlando Brewing. Terry headed for the food but I wasn’t hungry. I hunted for a choice sketching spot. I decided I had to draw the IKEA Red Chairs which had been decorated by different arts groups in town and were now perched on tables to be auctioned off. The lighting technicians were still testing all the stage lights and the stage and all the red chairs went black on occasion. I paused thinking I might not be able to work under such uncertain conditions. I sketched anyway and as guests arrived the stage was bathed in a warm red light. Most women wore sleek red gowns. I struggled to keep my tie from getting in the paint.

I focused on the chairs. My favorite chair was decorated by the Winter Garden Theater like the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. I’m thinking it would make a great toilet bowl seat. The plush red plant lips would be a pleasure to sit on. I might just remove the sharp teeth from the design. Another chair had an entire doll house built around it. Fairwinds Broadway Across America had an Adams Family chair that was built like an electric chair with “Thing” perched on the seat.

When the sketch was finished, Terry and I were the first in the Theater and we found a group of seven seats just behind the VIP seats. Sarah Austin and Wendy Wallenburg had won tickets by answering an Orlando Cultural Arts question online. The question was, “Who is the artistic director of Voci Dance?” The answer was Genevieve Bernard. I guarded the seats while Terry searched for our friends in the lobby.

15 different arts groups performed. The Florida Opera Theater performed a hilarious “Complete History of Opera (Abridged)”. They began with a guttural caveman grunting and quickly moved to a Renaissance harmonizing. All the subtle shades of operatic romance were sung to hilarious effect. My favorite performance was “I love you, I can’t live without you although I might kill you.” All sung in classic Italian. Since Terry and I used to attend the opera all the time before it went bankrupt, we were laughing out loud at this tongue in cheek irreverent view of opera history. Frank McClain the company’s Artistic Director has helped raise the phoenix from the flames.

The Orlando School of Cultural Dance had the packed theater clapping in unison as they danced to the African beat. Orlando Aerial Arts featured three beautiful women who climbed way up near the stage lights, wrapping themselves in the white silky material and then spinning down like yo-yos. I was to nervous to enjoy the performance. There were no safety nets or guy wires. The evening ended with the Power Chords singing “I got the music in me!” 16 energetic youthful singers danced and sang their hearts out causing a standing ovation. All of the performers crowded on to the stage for one final bow.

Back stage VIP’s and performers mingled behind the closed curtains enjoying cupcakes provided by Sugerbuzz Desert Company and Barnies Coffee. The crowd dissipated fairly quickly except our group, who had to be chased out with the flickering of lights. We decided to go to the Imperial bar behind Washburn Imports for after show drinks. I left the sketchbook in the truck and laughed and talked with friends until we were the last to leave the bar. I love the Red Chair Affair because it introduced to me some new and exiting new arts groups that I hope to visit for more sketch opportunities.