Master Class

I had another of those rare Rochester opportunities recently – to attend a vocal Master Class at the Eastman School of Music. In this case, the master was none other than the famous and popular Renée Fleming (the “people’s diva, as she was introduced by Dean Rossi), who grew up here in Rochester and studied at Eastman. I took my friend (and Concentus conductor) Gwen, and we joined a full house in Kilbourn Hall Monday afternoon. What a treat!

There were four students who came on stage one by one, and Fleming took her time with each of them, gently making corrections and suggestions, and always being extremely encouraging. This was nothing like Terence McNally’s play of the same title, in which Maria Callas treats the students as “victims.” To the contrary, Fleming did everything she could to help the students relax – shaking their shoulders, making them laugh, helping them breathe.

The first soprano, visibly nervous but with a gorgeous voice, performed a recitative and aria from Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, and Fleming coached her not just vocally but gave her tips for dramatic interpretation, including how to address the inner monologue and the pauses in the music. At one point, Fleming told the student she was “so brave” and instructed her (and the audience as well) to “bend over, take a deep breath.” She explained that a master class is scary, performing and being judged, and that it’s one step away from an audition. To take a bit of “edge” out of the student’s voice, Fleming gave her a straw and had her sing through it; she told us this is how she warms up in taxis and hotels!

The second student, a baritone, sang what I thought was a rather boring Brahms song, and Fleming agreed – he was singing everything the same. She loved his “distinctive sound and vibrato,” but actually asked him to back off on the vibrato a bit. Interestingly, she also gave some interpretive instruction to the pianist, whose playing was also a bit boring.

Arielle on the right, after the class

The third student, another soprano, was my favorite, not just for her operatic name (Arielle Nachtigal), but for her vocal sound and expressiveness. Fleming also appreciated the performance as she nodded and smiled throughout, and then commented that the aria, from Le nozze di Figaro, was perfect for her. Arielle was also nervous, of course, and Fleming periodically shook her shoulders to get her to relax. She had Arielle do the plank against the wall (instead of on the floor, since she was dressed too nicely for that) to get her to expand her ribcage and maintain the fullness, and all I could think was I hope Gwen doesn’t make the Concentus singers do this to warm up!

According to Fleming, the final student, a tenor, sang every note of an Italian-language sonnet by Britten too evenly – the syllables were all correct but there were no accents. She asked him to “sing it like you like the language,” to understand where each phrase was going, and to save the biggest space for the high note in the phrase, to allow it to bloom. As she shook the student’s and pianist’s hands at the end, I could see her compliment the expressive pianist, Wei-Wei Hsu: “beautiful playing.”

Renee Fleming after the class, with Dean Jamal Rossi
and  U of R's President Seligman

Fleming was funny and down to earth, but she also took her role very seriously in giving constructive feedback to these students, all of whom dream of careers on the stage. They were a bit too nervous, or too young, to incorporate all of Fleming’s suggestions in the allotted half hour, but they all did improve their performances visibly and audibly, and all earned a gracious “much better” from Fleming. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ariella’s name again, in particular, sometime in the future.

Geva's Spamalot

I was lucky enough to see the original show on Broadway ten years ago, starring David Hyde Pierce, Sara Ramirez, and Tim Curry. I remember liking it so much I would have loved to have seen it twice. But the exorbitant cost of a Broadway ticket deterred me. The great thing about Geva is that the tickets are so inexpensive that I was happy to see it not just once, with my husband, but a second time, with my friend Jan.

If you are a Monty Python fan, and phrases like “I told them we already got one” and “it’s just a flesh wound” make their way into your own conversations, you won’t want to miss this hysterical musical adaptation of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie. And even if you’re not familiar with the movie’s humor, it’s an enjoyable romp.

One of the gripes I had with the original musical is a result of the Monty Python comedy group itself, which was all male. The musical introduced a leading female role, the Lady of the Lake, and her songs satirize her absence in the main plot. Sara Ramirez stole the show in this role, for which she won a Tony. Ashley Dawn Mortensen doesn’t disappoint as the Lady of the Lake in Geva’s production. Perhaps in an effort to correct this lack of female characters, Director Melissa Rain Anderson has creatively cast a woman – frequent Geva performer and Rochesterian, the talented Jennifer Cody – as Patsy and Guard #2. She partners well with real-life husband Hunter Foster (brother of the Broadway star Sutton Foster) as King Arthur.

Spamalot is playing to record Geva audiences, and most shows are at or near capacity. Unlike a hit Broadway show, which can be extended indefinitely, Spamalot in Rochester must end on October 11, to make way for the next show in the subscription series, John Logan’s riveting Red. So see it soon, if you can.

For more information, visit Geva’s website: http://www.gevatheatre.org

Informed Consent – Off Broadway

Last weekend, we were in the New York City, catching up with family and friends, visiting museums, and, my favorite NYC thing to do – seeing shows. Fun Home was sold out, so I talked some friends into seeing Informed Consent at The Duke on 42^nd Street (considered “Off-Broadway because it only seats 200). I was curious to see it with a different cast, set, and director than Geva Theatre’s production in March 2014. And I was eager to share this smart play by Deb Laufer with my NYC pals. I felt proud of Rochester and Geva for being the first professional stop on the play’s journey to New York, and I felt a strange connection to its development under Director Sean Daniels, since I saw it evolve during my tenure as a Geva Cohort.

The theatre was full, and, curiously, not as comfortable or well designed as either Geva’s Wilson or Fielding Stage. The set was extremely creative – the back wall was composed of rows of those white office file boxes, 16 across and 19 high! There were four white spiral staircases that evoked strands of DNA (although they weren’t double helix, which would have been more cool). This was the New York City premiere of the play, and the program quoted Laufer: “I’m so grateful to so many people and organizations who have contributed to getting this play here….Ben Stanger, Sean Daniels, Geva Theatre Center, Cleveland Playhouse…” Sadly, most people reading that wouldn’t know where Geva Theatre is, or why she was thanking them.

My friends really enjoyed the pay, and I overheard other audience members on the way out expressing how much they did, too. The actors were all great, of course, although I thought most of the Geva cast would have done equally as well. The thing I relished most about the evening was that, unlike the usual experience of seeing a show that has already “made it” in New York and is now making the rounds in regional theatre, I got to experience having seen a play originate right here in Rochester and be produced a year later in New York. It reminded me how lucky we are to have a local theater of Geva’s caliber, that presents original productions of not just known hits like Spamalot and To Kill A Mockingbird, but also new plays, such as Informed Consent and Women in Jeopardy, any one of which might go on to enjoy a much broader audience.

RPO Season Opener

Last night was the Season Opener for the RPO’s Philharmonics Series with Ward Stare (the orchestra had already performed a non-season-opener Pops concert last week with Jeff Tyzik). Kodak Theatre was buzzing with anticipation of Stare’s first performance of his inaugural season, and he did not disappoint. The house appeared full (either it really was almost sold-out, or their new ticketing strategy to move people down from the upper balcony is working). At 7:30, all of the musicians, who had been going through their usual instrument warm-ups, left the stage, and we could hear them tuning their instruments backstage. This was certainly different! And the usual no camera or cell phone announcement concluded with a remark that Stare would be available after the performance for program signing. Also different!

Jules Smith, the Board Chair, took the stage and introduced Stare, who acknowledged that this was as special night for him, and that it was an honor to come home to be the 12^th music director of the RPO. He explained his intent with the evening’s program, which opens his first full season – to highlight our wonderful orchestra. There were no featured soloists – the spotlight was on the orchestra. Then he welcomed them to the stage, as the rightful stars of the show, and the audience responded with raucous applause, which the musicians knew was just for them.

The first piece was Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Stare successfully whipped the orchestra into a frenzy at the appropriate measures. I’m probably not the only one who can’t hear that music without envisioning brooms with water pails, and I imagine that this piece is probably as much fun to play as it is to hear.

Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32 gave the orchestra another opportunity to fill the hall with their lush full sound, with the added bonus of a contemplative clarinet solo by the extremely talented Kenneth Grant. After the intermission, Stare tenderly conducted Barber’s Adagio for Strings from memory, and then the full orchestra took the stage for the finale, Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Stare’s energy was infectious – not just with the orchestra, but the audience, whose standing ovation was truly heartfelt. The concert ended early, and I don’t think I was the only one who hoped that meant we’d be treated to an encore, but after Stare graciously acknowledged the orchestral soloists, and the musicians by section, he left the stage for good, and left the audience wanting more. Very smart. Welcome home, Ward Stare.

Brooklyn Bridge at RoCo

The crowd on opening night - is that
Wendell Castle?

I’d never been to an opening night of an exhibit at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo), so didn’t know what to expect. It coincided with “First Friday” and good weather, so there were quite a few people at the gallery admiring the pieces by five New York-based emerging artists, and taking the opportunity to ascend to a visit the open studios upstairs.

One of Derek Lerner's
pen and ink drawings

The exhibit is an eclectic mix of paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Derek Lerner’s ballpoint pen drawings were fascinating, and you could only imagine the amount of time, effort, and patience that went into creating these abstract works. For example, a drawing that looked like a small lightning flash of white on a solid blue background from afar was, on closer inspection, various shades of blue pen ink with just a sliver of white background remaining.

Norm Paris' The Fumble

I’ll admit that I didn’t ‘get’ most of what I was looking at, but luckily, Blue Cease, Executive Director and Curator, was on hand to share his excitement and knowledge about the artists and the particular pieces in the gallery. Of course I could have just read the posted descriptions, but what fun is that? The two largest sculptures, by Norm Paris, played with the concept of negative space. The sculptures are meant to represent shipping crates for non-existent sculptures of bygone athletes. It was easy to see the outline of a person in The Fumble, which was inspired by a 1988 game between the Bronco’s and the Browns, and I bet I wasn’t the only one who wished it were an interactive exhibit you could crawl into and ‘be’ the sculpture!

Liz Jaff's intricate folded-paper Plomb

Speaking of interactive, RoCo will be the venue for Poolastic, on Friday September 18, from 2-10pm, as part of Rochester’s Fringe Festival. I’m not sure I’ll want to jump into the bin of 10,000 plastic bottles myself, but it’ll be fun watching others do it, and perhaps it will provide a jolt to people about how bad these bottles are for our environment.

Brooklyn Bridge runs through November 15. Admission is only $2.