Les Mamelles de Tiresias – The Breasts of Tiresias
A semi-staged interpretation of Poulenc’s classic tale of a feminist housewife who tires of her lot in life and decides to become a man, while her bewildered husband is left behind to figure out procreation all by himself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_mamelles_de_Tir%C3%A9sias

Character and the Great Challenge

            Opera is all about the characters.

            The first opera I ever saw was sophomore year of high school when a production of Turandot came to the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. I had a loose idea of the plot and characters going into it, and not a clue of what the music was going to be like (though I had the feeling that, at some point, a big-bosomed soprano with an even bigger voice would be standing front and center, delivering one heck of an aria, eliciting tears from the house; I at least got that part right). Leaving the theater, I realized that I understood even less about the plot at the end than I did at the beginning. I chalked a lot of this up to the fact that, at times, admittedly, I was bored out of my mind. And I was never sure where my attention should be (There’s a princess, right? Wait, who’s that guy and what’s he saying? Why is he angry? Who are those three guys and why is everyone laughing? The subtitles aren’t helping!) But, I also credited this lack of understanding to another common issue- sometimes, operas just don’t make sense.

            I still believe this to be true. But as I got older, and became more and more learned in theater, I realized that quite often, this was the case in general. Look at one of the plots of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (also an opera)- Oberon is pissed and wants to mess with Titania so, naturally, he commands his fairy friend to find a magic flower from which he’ll drop its potion into Titania’s sleeping eye so she’ll fall in love with an actor with a donkey’s head who, naturally, has fallen asleep at her feet, by coincidence. Yeah, okay, makes sense. While it may not be logical, given the circumstances of the story, I could at least follow it because there was a text and script to keep track of characters and events. And as someone who uses the script, the dialogue to distinguish these characters and events, who hasn’t had much work with music at all, following the characters and story with nothing but music (which, to the untrained ear, can sometimes all sound the same) could only confuse me more than I already was. But that became the challenge for me while working on this Opera Ensemble production- the challenge to bridge the form of theater I was already incredibly familiar with and the form of theater I had no previous experience with, and combine. And I have to say that challenge has proven to be a highly enjoyable one.

            The first step to making sense of the story was to actually make the story itself. At the beginning of this process, there were only a few things I had to go off of: much of the music is French cabaret and opera, and the ensemble consists entirely of five women and one man. Okay. Now how do we make this work, Tim Gunn?

            As an actor, director and writer, I’ve always held that the most important part of any story (novel, play, television, cinema, song) is the character. And that’s where we started, working to discover the characters based on the selected music, determining the relationships to each other, and most importantly, decide why we’re singing what we’re singing when we’re singing it. One of the key elements of great musical theater is that a character will break into song when there is no other way they can express themselves. True, opera may be more technical than musical theater, in many ways, but there are many of those principals that transcend type and form to be universal. And this is the element that can lead one to liken Rose in Gypsy to Romeo in Romeo & Juliet- when Rose sings to Louise that she had a dream, how is it any different than when Romeo resorts to poetry and verse to describe Juliet by saying ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!/It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night’(1.5, 45-46)? Both characters have to use more than just normal, every day speech (for their given times) to fully and accurately express themselves at that moment. Why does any soprano sing their aria rather than just say it (style and consistency aside)? Our production was aided by the fact that our entire written material was music; it’s all expression.

            Helping guide and determine the story and characters was the aforementioned issue of having five women to one man. With a balance like that, the idea of staging an epic, operatic interpretation of Saving Private Ryan wouldn’t have been particularly realistic. At the risk of making myself out to be more pretentious than I already sound, at the beginning of the semester I had been watching a lot of Fellini and Godard, both directors that focused often on women, and what they mean and represent to men as objects, lovers, mothers, partners, etc. And when Mari Hahn, our director, had said that she was going for a French cabaret look, immediately my mind went to the image of Joel Grey surrounded by the Kit-Kat Girls. The challenge that came from that, for me, at least, was to create a story that was equally an homage to, and separate from, Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret, Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie, and Fellini’s 8 ½ (and subsequently, Maury Yeston’s Nine).

            And I would say, with a great deal of confidence, that challenge has been greatly overcome. As an ensemble, we’ve crafted a story about unrequited love, identity crisis, loneliness, a little bit of alcoholism (all elements that make a good opera) and more, set against the back drop of prostitution in a French brothel over the course of one night. Is it racy? Sure! But how much opera isn’t driven by sex, violence, double-entendre and tons of champagne? The back drop is merely that, a back drop. The most important element of this production are the characters.

            By agreeing to work on this, I was agreeing to step out of my comfort zone. I’m not much of a singer (excluding karaoke and the shower), and I’ve only directed one musical; never opera. But while that may not be my strength, it is the strength of Mari Hahn, Eden Barrington, Chelsea Asmus, Amanda Farnsworth, Jillian Pollock, Sujin Scott, and pianist Janet Stiles. It has been, and continues to be a great deal of work. But I think that the audience is going to find that the work speaks for itself.

            Or rather, like the characters, sing for itself.

-Chelsea M. Asmus, guest blogger and ‘Moulin Blue’ cast member

~Photography by Kate Schwarzer~

‘Moulin Blue’ will be December 11, 2010 at 7:30pm in the UAA Recital Hall in the Arts Building on the UAA Campus. Call 786-1575 for ticket reservations.

 Francis Poulenc’s “Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias)” - A strong, independent woman leads a strike against childbirth reminiscent of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, but the retaliation of the men involves a plan to procreate without women. This Opéra bouffon is sure to tickle your funny bone as it addresses the relationships of men and women through the antics of a colorful cast and a witty liberetto.

-and-

Maurice Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells)” – A child learns to respect the world around him when inanimate objects come to life, and animals begin to speak. They reprimand and shun him for his mistreatment and misbehavior, but he learns from his mistake and redeems himself. A cast full of toys and animals frolic and sing as the stage becomes a nursery, and then a garden.

This was my first time attending the LFTC in Valdez, AK, and it was an extremely rewarding experience. I really wish I had known about it years ago! I learned so much from the talented Featured Artists that came especially for this conference. The reason I decided to go to the conference in the first place was the “Acting for Singers” workshop brought in partnership with the Anchorage Opera. This class covered the basics of both acting and singing, and then went deeper to help students present a more impactful performance through better vocal technique and through an emotional investment in their song.

 Kim Estes and Darcy Halsey taught us how to develop a character profile and how to put more of ourselves and our own emotions into our songs. I can tell you, I dredged up some of my own personal demons in an attempt to make my song that much more believable and moving. It was great to watch others in the class grow as actors. Sometimes singers tend to neglect the acting aspect of what we do, but it is a hugely important part of being a performer. Darcy and Kim brought that issue out and forced us to really think about changing our way of thinking as singers.

Nancy Caudill was our talented voice coach, with Juliana Osinchuk accompanying. Nancy taught us how to properly support our breath, and also the correct way to shape our mouth for various vowels. You could hear the immediate difference in sound when the students applied what she was instructing. She was also very hands-on about correcting any support issues. It was a common occurrence to see her pushing her fist into a student’s upper abdomen to help them find the muscles used for proper breath support. Juliana also offered nuggets of important advice from an accompanist’s point of view, which was very helpful in teaching us the benefits of treating your accompanist well and making their job as easy as possible.

I am glad that this opportunity will be available again next year. I hope many more students will be able to participate, as this was an incredible learning experience! My only wish is that I would love to see an end-of-conference recital sometime in the future, so we can demonstrate everything we have learned to the general public.

Richard Gordon plays piano and directs during rehearsals.

Mari Hahn directs staging

The Wazir brags and threatens his minions

The Poet is threatened by the Wazir, Lalume insists he has a chance to plead his case

Richard Gordon plays in background while The Poet sings to his daughter

Lalume does a veil dance for The Poet

The Poet sings to his daughter Marsinah

Photography by Kate Schwarzer

For those new to the Alexander Technique, here is a description in a nutshell: We all have harmful habits in how we walk, sit, or stand. For performers, certain patterns develop that can be harmful to their specific art. In our case as singers, the most common problems are a tightness in the lower back, chest, and shoulders, and also a misalignment of the head resting on the neck. Over time, these bad habits can wear out your voice and even cause pain.  Robyn’s specialty is to help re-train her student’s bodies to stand in the most efficient and productive way possible, using hands-on adjustments and verbal cues. If you ever have the opportunity to sit in and listen to Robyn work with a voice student, you should definitely do it! The change is easy to see, and very audible in the quality of the voice.

As a person, Robyn is so much fun to work with! Her very presence is calming, and she always has a smile for everyone. Her influence over a group of people is amazing to feel and observe. For example, theUAA Opera Ensemble members  were waiting together in the lobby for the recital hall to become available. While we sat waiting, Robyn began to talk and instruct. She was giving subtle verbal directions, things as simple as “Let your chair touch you. Let it hold your weight”, and you could feel everyone in the room settle and relax. Think about it yourself… While you are reading this, can you feel your chair? Is it holding all your weight, or is your lower back tense with the effort of holding yourself up? Something to think about!

A good resource to learn more about Robyn’s practice is http://www.livinginabody.com/. You can also learn some interesting things about the history and various applications of the technique at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Technique .

•  We learned how to really connect with our bodies to produce strong sounds and good posture using the Alexander Technique, led by Robyn Avalon.
• Music director and NYC vocal coach Richard Gordon began his 7-week residency with the UAA Apprentices. In addition to coaching the UAA/AO Apprentices, he will also be conducting “Kismet” this season.
• Melissa Wanamaker, local belly dance expert, visited our class several times to polish up our choreography with her fun bellydance moves and poses.

Over this next week you will be able to learn a little bit about each of these three fabulous people. We have been so fortunate to be able to learn and grow with what they have to teach us!

Opportunities for Apprentices include:

Administrative and production internships.