Cutting Bread

Here's a scene from my day, as I was running out the door and hurriedly cutting a piece of bread…

Happy Holidays everyone. I'll continue blogging after New Years, to give my right index finger some time to heal so I can tupe...thpe…crap…T.Y.P.E.

I need Mommy to kiss my boo boo.

La Monnaie Parsifal | Movement

What was easily done in Act One is not easily achieved in Act Two.

And the tenor is not happy.

He had a meltdown first in the musical coaching with Haenchen the day before yesterday. It was probably a mistake to insist the maestro and assistant take him to task on the language. Then yesterday getting to "Amfortas…die Wunde!" in staging rehearsals and realizing that slow and zen-like movement was antithetical to how he's sung this very dramatic music.

So he went into a corner and pouted.

But he got back at the director: Last nite we all attended a fantastic party.  Standing next to Roméo, he would always reach toward a tray of passing hors d'oeuvres in slow motion, missing them completely, telling people "I'm stuck in Castellucci time." He always got a real laugh out of that. Ha!!

Yeah, I got him good…

La Monnaie Parsifal | First Fitting

We've all been wondering precisely when we'd begin to see our costumes. It's usually the most anticipated moment for singers. Will my ass/thighs/stomach/head [insert favorite spot of shame] look too big in what I'm wearing onstage? Are the shoes gonna pinch? How far down can I unbutton the shirt before looking like Wayne Newton? Ya know…important stuff.

Singing For My Supper

I try as hard as I can to not memorize new songs for important gigs. Singing for Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz last night at Ambassador and Mrs. Gutman's Belgium residence would be right at the top o' the list.

When oh WHEN will I ever learn? Sondheim is like Bellini. IMPOSSIBLE to memorize fast.

When I was young(er) and foolish(er) I once did the Met Opera National Council Auditions in San Diego. I got it in my brain I really ought to sing the Act 2 aria of the Duke of Mantua's "Parmi, veder le lagrime." I was only beginning singing and decided it would be a pretty easy one to do.

Anyone that knows ANYTHING wouldn't call that particular aria "pretty easy."

To make matters worse, I didn't really see the importance of actually rehearsing it with a pianist before the competition. I mean, I knew the piece. How was a pianist going to change anything?! I actually never even sang it with a pianist before getting up onstage.

Yes, sometimes I amaze even myself with my stupidity.

Party Crasher

While at the premiere party for La Boheme on Friday (fantastic performances by Ermonela Jaho and Giuseppe Filianoti) I spied the American Ambassador, Howard Gutman, across the room. I had been told he was a big opera lover and I learned long ago not to let the opportunities get away, so I asked Peter De Caluwe to introduce me.

Uncle Frank & Aunt Bettie

We got talking and I mentioned I was a wee bit interested in foreign affairs, as my maternal uncle Frank Crigler was a career diplomat, having been the American Ambassador in Rwanda, Somalia, held posts in the Congo and Columbia, to name a few. The Richards and the Criglers have always been a bit awed by the circles that Uncle Frank and Aunt Bettie ran in and the opportunities they had. Up in the mountains in the mist with Diane Fossey, one of my favorite pictures of my own mother is having a Silverback gorilla staring in himself in her glasses 4 inches from her face. And Diane saying very very quietly to mom: "Don't....MOVE!"

La Monnaie Parsifal | Signs of the Times

I gotta tread very lightly.

As you can see, blogging about this production has got some of the administration a bit nervous. I understand their viewpoint. We have to guard the Artistic Process and keep it free from too much speculation. Even Roméo will sometimes backtrack a bit in how he will describe a scene to me. I see this moment, a brief flicker of worry, when he remembers mid-sentence what he's telling me might end up online. A brave new world we live in. Artists with blogs…
[Read more]

James Franco, Tenor

I think I've gone thru the series of 14 Actors Acting 3 times now. Franco's definitely resonates with me on a personal level. I even think at one point he actually says: "Enough about me. What do you think of my dress?"

Artists Business

Are you talking to ME?

My morning jaunt into Google brought me to The Artists Way. 


Dunno why. 

An excerpt from here:

There are 2 pivotal tools in creative recovery: the morning pages and the artist date. A lasting creative awakening requires the consistent use of both…The morning pages are not supposed to sound smart--although sometimes they might. Most times they won't, and nobody will ever know except you. Nobody is allowed to read your morning pages except you. And you shouldn't even read them yourself for the first 8 weeks or so…Although occasionally colorful, the morning pages are often negative, frequently fragmented, often self-pitying, repetitive, stilted or babyish, angry or bland--even silly sounding.

 So now that we've established why I write this blog (cough cough), let me ask readers about the new header. Do we like it? Feel free to comment.

No, they aren't urinals. Yes, they look like it. But maybe that appearance fits the content. Kinda looks like I'm sat down reading the morning paper and … ya know … taking care of business.

Kinda like writing a blog.

La Monnaie Parsifal | Sssssss

New Banner Photo From Monnaie's Website

IN the Production Presentation, we heard some ideas that I wasn't very surprised by. A white snake would be involved. I thought, ok, "skinny man in tights. Climbing walls and rolling around on the floor." Or maybe a puppet. Well, the Met had done lots of puppets already in Butterfly so this guy can't be all THAT revolutionary. Actually when Roméo told me a snake was going to crawl up a wall, slowly and into Superman's creator's ear, I thought seeing some actor in a unitard was a bit cheesy.

Anna Honored

Anna Larsson

Classicalify (blog) reports that Anna Larsson (Kundry in La Monnaie Parsifal) has been named Court Singer for the Swedish Court yesterday.

She joins some of the worlds very best singers. To name a few: Nina Stemme, Anne Sofie von Otter, Birgitta Svendén. Gösta Winbergh, Håkan Hagegård, Nicolai Gedda, Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Söderström and some guy named Jussi Björling.

Folks, she is going to rock the world in this role. Mark my word.
_____________________________________________________
From Wikipedia: Hovsångare (Hovsångerska for women) is a title awarded by the Swedish monarch to a singer (usually an opera singer) who, by their vocal art, has contributed to the international standing of Swedish singing. The formal title was introduced by King Gustav III of Sweden in 1773, with the first recipients being Elisabeth Olin and Carl Stenborg. The position as such, however, dates back to the 17th-century, when Anne Chabanceau de La Barre and Joseph Chabanceau de La Barre were singers at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden.

Confuse-a-Cat

Another example of what the Castellucci Parsifal won't be:

La Monnaie Parsifal | Project Genesis

Peter De Caluwe's introduction of Roméo Castellucci can be paraphrased like this: "Roméo is a person of great vision. He is a creator of Theatrical Spaces. He is a creator of New Theatrical Worlds."

On many levels this will be the antithesis of the Stuttgart Parsifal. I was struck in the article I posted yesterday by Roméo's comments about Genesis, that it scares him more than Apocalypse. "The terror of pure possibility…"

La Monnaie Parsifal | Won'ts

Roméo Castellucci:

"This Parsifal will have …

La Monnaie Parsifal | ˈprīmər

Before delving into Roméo's Parsifal remarks, here's some things written about his work:

from

RealTimeArts Archive Article

Keith Gallasch

Romeo Castellucci and his Societas Rafaello Sanzio collaborators have produced some of the most seductive and enigmatic performance masterworks of recent times, epic conceptions and disturbing realisations on a scale not experienced since the first showings of the Robert Wilson "operas" with which they share a totally immersive sense of dream, if in radically different ways.

Marshall interviewed Castellucci about Genisi, covering a range of subjects, including the director's use of non-professional performers: "In truth, every body is worthy of being on stage. For me there are no deformed bodies, but only bodies with different forms and different beauties, often with a type of beauty that we have forgotten." 

In a revealing discussion about violence, creativity and tragedy in his work, Castellucci comments: "Genesis frightens me much more than the Apocalypse. The terror of pure possibility is there in this sea open to all possibilities." The sentiment resonates with the experience of witnessing a Castellucci creation—awe at what can still be realised on a stage, "so unpredictably indirect in its creativity."

La Monnaie Parsifal | Roméo Begins

I've only watched a small sampling of the Castellucci Canon on Youtube, but enough now to begin to get a feel for this artist. So far, one of my favorite things to discover is this short film created by Roméo, with music by Scott Gibbons and Chiara Guidi:

For an introduction to Roméo and his theater company, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, read this English source. Highly recommended. And if you read Italian, see the Wikipedia page. Another source I'll be reading and re-reading over the coming days is an essay on the Tragedia Endogonidia found here. Nested in it is more insight into Romeo's inner world, and most importantly, a deeper connection to his literal and theatrical vocabulary.

La Monnaie Parsifal | Introductions

The Singers

Starting out the first meeting yesterday was Peter De Caluwe giving opening remarks and welcoming all to the rehearsal space. Peter is a dear friend, really a brother to me and one of the biggest believers in me personally. The musical brother that he is, he got a good jab in when introducing me: "Andrew Richards is our Parsifal. And I'm rather upset at him. THIS production was to be his debut in the role, but after signing on for this was then offered another Parsifal in an earlier time slot. He received a lot of positive attention for it so I suppose I have to forgive him." Thanks, mon frere. :-)

Anna Larsson is our Kundry. One thing to say about her so far: BOOTS. Boots with heals. I felt small in Stuttgart standing anywhere near any of the guys. Now I get to feel tiny in all of Act Two standing anywhere near my Kundry. (Doggonit, I'm over 6ft tall. When I complained to another tall friend online she wrote back, "Ah, but what you lack in height you more than make up for with Ego." Hmmm…I think I just got b**** slapped.) This will be her debut in the role of Kundry. Color me extremely impressed. Back now from the first staging rehearsal and noticed she was wearing sporty flats. NOW we're talkin'!

Here's Anna singing Dalilah. Yeah. This is an artist.

Parsifal BEGINS | Rencontre avec Roméo Castellucci

Presenting a newcomer to the world of opera: Roméo Castellucci

We began this week in La Monnaie for Romeo's production of Parsifal. I immediately saw it would remain Richard Wagner's masterpiece, and not made into something else entirely. Parsifal (so far) would not be slaughtering innocents and eating them. The themes of the piece, the flavor of the musical language would remain intact.

I learned it would not be a highly illustrative rendering however. After watching several video's of Romeo's work (I am dispensing with the accent over e....three added steps on this qwerty keyboard is too many), I began to see he is using a completely different theatrical language than what I am used to. The closest thing I could compare it to was Robert Wilson's regie. There is a vacancy to the players. From what I see there is a desire to let the entire stage (and now pit) make the impact rather than the singer underlining every.single.thing.they.say.with.meaning. Even in our Production Presentation today he alluded to as much, that we did not have to act out the scene. He would be looking for our voices and movement and other things onstage to bring the power out of the piece, not to "show the story."