Our first dress rehearsal

Yesterday after I woke up and ate breakfast I went to the gym for a little bit and then showered and got ready to go to the dress rehearsal.  All of our makeup is supposed to be fairly normal, but our hair needs to be victorian...which anyone who has seen me attempt to do hair...knows that this is difficult for me.  Anyway, today I'll just have to make it higher, luckily my hairagami did the trick!!  This rehearsal had me in the chorus and today I'll get to sing Antonia's Mother/Stella.

I'll try in this blog to give a VERY basic summary of the opera.  It begins with the prologue which has Hoffmann and his best friend Nicklausse at a pub with his students.  Lindorf is also sitting there, and before Hoffmann arrives he intercepts and a letter from Stella who asks Hoffmann to meet her after the performance.  When Hoffmann arrives he usually tells funny stories to the students and the students love to listen to him, but tonight there is a performance of Don Giovanni starring Stella.  Hoffmann is in love with Stella and so he begins to tell the stories of his three past loves, Olympia, Giulietta, and Antonia.

(characters in photo left to right: Luther the bartender, Lindorf, Nicklausse, the students, and Hoffmann)

Then Act 1 begins to tell the story of Olympia.  Her creator was Spalanzani who wanted to create a doll that looks and acts like a real person (or an ideal woman).  Then Coppelius enters and sells Hoffmann googles that make Olypmia look even more like a real person (to him).  The chorus enters and they watch the newest invention, Olympia, sing her aria and occasional need to be rewound, they then exit for supper and Hoffmann and Olympia are left alone.  After he kisses her she begins to break down and at the same time Coppelius realizes that Spalanzani has given him a bad check and wants revenge.  The chorus re-enters and waltzes and watch Olympia and Hoffmann waltz and go faster and faster and finally she goes off stage and Hoffmann falls to the ground.  A few moments later Coppelius enters with the severed head of Olympia (in revenge for Spalanzani's bad check) and Hoffmann realizes that he has been in love with a doll (even though Nicklausse had tried to warn him) and the chorus laughs at him.

(characters in photo left to right: Nicklausse, Hoffmann, Spalanzani, Cochenille, Olympia, and chorus)

Act 2 begins in a brothel in which Dappertutto is the pimp and Giulietta is the highest ranked prostitute.  Hoffmann enters and is falling in love with Giulietta.  Then Schlemil enters who has been with Giulietta longer and has recently lost his shadow, he has a violent temper, and does not like Hoffmann.  After everyone exits but Dappertutto who is plotting what to do with Hoffmann, then Giulietta enters, and he tells her to steal Hoffmann's reflection.  Hoffmann enters and he and Giulietta sing a love duet (but really she is seducing him to steal his reflection) and at the end Schlemil enters to see them together.  Dappertutto shows Hoffmann a mirror and then Hoffmann he realizes that he has had his reflection stolen.  Then Schlemil challenges Hoffmann to a duel in which Schlemil is killed (in our production Pitichinaccio, the drag queen, gives him a gun that jams...on purpose).  While Schlemil is lying dead, Giulietta and Pitichinaccio leave together, and Nicklausse runs in to warn Hoffmann that the police are coming, at the end of the act Dappertutto is standing alone behind Schlemil's body.

(1st picture: David and I in the chorus; 2nd picture: Giulietta and Pit entering, Schlemil is center, Dappertutto far right, chorus in background)

I'll talk about Act 3 and the epilogue tomorrow when there are pictures of me haha!  The only things I did yesterday were sleep, I've been so exhausted lately, I took a nap and then went to bed!

Day 20: A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

I probably will go here at some point this year!!  But I'd also like to visit Europe, and like various cities there....preferably soon...and when the american dollar gets to be worth something.