Working Rehearsal

The working rehearsal was really interesting. I learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes goings on at a major operatic company.

One funny moment came when the music stopped and one of the characters, standing in a laundry pit, announced to the director, "This laundry stinks." Everyone in the theatre laughed and he said, "It's not funny, it really stinks!"

Later on during the rehearsal, the female lead was supposed to grab a gun and point it at the antagonist who had been threatening her with his sword. It worked the first time they rehearsed the scene, but the second time through, the lead had passed the prop gun to another character to hold. Realizing she didn't have the prop, she improvised a very amusing Charlie’s Angels gun pose with her fingers while the other character rushed over and placed the gun in her hands. Meanwhile, the antagonist at whom she was pointing the gun thought this was an opportunity to be funny and took his prop sword and stabbed himself to death. The audience laughed heartily while the conductor turned around and said with fake exasperation to us, “It’s not meant to be a funny opera!”