Central City Round Up

Life is getting crazy busy here in Central City. There's so much going on that I'm not sure I can even blog about it all! In the past week Three Decembers started rehearsals, the ushers learned to sing the famous Usher Song, three board members were fitted for costumes for walk-on rolls in Orpheus in the Underworld, publicity photos were taken for Madama Butterfly, and John Moriarty shared with us the history of Central City Opera at the annual company meeting. Craziness!

I got the chance to attend both the design meeting and the first staging rehearsal for Three Decembers, and I am now totally hooked on that show. As principal artist Emily Pulley said in the design meeting, "It's not an opera, it's group therapy, really." And who doesn't like to see group therapy with music? I definitely do. Director Ken Cazan, who last directed West Side Story at Central City Opera in 2008, said "the theatre will never let you down," and I have a feeling this opera won't let us down either. I'm excited about it. [View Ken Cazan's Director's Notes on Three Decembers.]

Meanwhile, the ushers woke up early one morning to learn the Ushers' Song with Associate Conductor Andrew Altenbach. They don't look particularly happy about in this photo, but I swear we perked up once the real singing started. And just wait until we learn to march - it is going to be epic!

This morning we all attended the Central City Opera annual meeting, which was pretty awesome. John Moriarty told us the history of the Opera company, and I learned so much! I wasn't able to get any good pictures, but there's a historical reason for that, I swear. Apparently, the lighting in the opera house is super low because the paintings on the ceiling were meant to be seen in gas light. Mr. Moriarty told us that under modern bright lights, the colors look incredibly garish. Who knew!? And that was only one small fun fact we learned this morning.

Over the course of the week, three opera Board Members came in to get fitted for their costumes for the walk-on rolls they have in Orpheus in the Underworld. I stopped by George Ann Victor's fitting this morning. It was really fun to see how excited she was about her role and about her awesome costume. Look to the right. How cool is that! Just wait until you see her boots.

So life is starting to get busy busy busy in Central City. Trust me, you'll hear from me soon. Until then, scroll down and read the fun facts about Madama Butterfly Marc Shulgold put together.