Fun with the Habanera from CARMEN

Around the office, we already have the Habanera from Carmen (one of our 2011 productions) stuck in our head.  It's that tune you've heard countless times in tv and film, including a Bertolli's pasta commercial.  Think about this:  music from a French opera, set in Spain, to sell Italian pasta!

Well, today we turn to Jim Henson's loveable creations to bring us two favorite video clips of the Habanera. First, up is a classic Sesame Street clip:


And for our finale today, we bring you the Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal from the Muppets.  Trust me, this will be the one that gets stuck in your head...you don't need to know the original lyrics, just "Bork" and "Meep" along!



Look forward to our production of Carmen in 2011!

Central City Elks Lodge Clock

While roaming the internet, I came across an interesting tidbit about the Elks Lodge in Central City, CO. Did you notice that the time is "stuck" at eleven o'clock? This wasn't an accident!

A picture of the clock was recently placed on Waymarking.com (displayed below):
The description said, "This beautiful Elks Lodge building features a clock in the upper decorative story. The clock may not even have an actual clockworks since the Elks set their clocks to 11:00 [p.m.] in honor of the traditional toast." This was certainly a tradition I'd never heard of, so I followed the additional links provided which included another photo on Waymarking.com with some history of the Central City Elks (pictured below)
and a historical link on the Elks website.

According to these two websites, the Central City lodge was organized in 1900 and purchased this building on Main Street in 1902. The lodge brought home many honors from the state Elks convention in Denver in 1906. Membership rates have varied over the years, with highs from mining booms and the building of the Moffat Tunnel and lows as a result of the 1918 flu epidemic and various difficult economic times.

As for the clock stuck at 11:00, there is an Elks traditional toast at that time, which harkens back to a curfew established after the Battle of Hastings when all fires had to be extinguishing at eleven o'clock. It began to be considered a somber time and gave rise to phrases like someone being on their deathbed in the "eleventh hour." Throughout the years various groups began using this time of night to honor those that had passed, which you can read more about on the Elks website. Some time in the early 1900s, the Elks adopted a "fixed and official" Eleven O'Clock Toast.

You have heard the tolling of 11 strokes.
This is to remind us that with Elks, the hour of 11 has a tender significance.
Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour falls upon the dial of night, the great heart of Elkdom swells and throbs.
It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll call of those who will come no more.
Living or dead, Elks are never forgotten, never forsaken.
Morning and noon may pass them by, the light of day sink heedlessly in the West, but ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of memory will be pealing forth the friendly message,
"To our absent members."

You can find several more Eleven O'Clock Toasts on the same Elks website.

Look for this and other great historical buildings the next time you head to Central City!

Closing of the 2010 Festival

Well, loyal readers, it looks like it's that time. The 2010 Central City Opera Festival has officially closed, and all of our artists and designers are leaving Central City in search of new adventures. The Festival Staff remains behind to clean, consolidate information, and just generally wrap things up. It's been a wonderful festival, and it'll be bittersweet to leave it behind!

I must admit that I started the summer unsure how to feel about opera, as my background is in theatre and my experience has previously been limited to my mother's collection of opera recordings. Now, however, I'll leave Central City with a new appreciation for opera and for the people who make it possible. I am grateful to my fellow Festival Staffers,

the music staff,

the designers and technicians,

the directing staff,

the members of our wonderful casts,

and all of the other hard working people who helped put Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld, and Three Decembers on stage for audiences to see.

Photo by Mark Kiryluk.

I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and I hope you guys did too!

Happy Closing from the 2010 Company. Central City Opera looks forward to seeing you when the yellow roses bloom again in 2011.

Photo by Mark Kiryluk.

**Click here for information on CCO's 2011 Season.**

Face on the Barroom Floor

The Face on the Barroom Floor is famous, but no one quite knows the real story behind it. There are many versions of the story, from the poem by H. Antoine D'Arcy to the opera by Henry Mollicone. I, however, subscribe to the Henry Mollicone version, if only because I got to see the opera itself the other day. Face on the Barroom Floor was written for Central City Opera in 1978, and is now performed as one of our Festival Extras each summer. I got the chance to pop in and take some photographs of the performance and I was delighted with both the story and the artists. Face is double casted, which means that you won't know which cast you'll get to see if you come see one of the two performances left - on August 4th and 8th. I suggest you take a gamble and come see it, as both casts are fabulous and the opera itself is simultaneously fun and dramatic.

Signor Deluso

Among my favorite things about this festival are the festival extras; especially Signor Deluso and Face on the Barroom Floor. I love getting the chance to see our Apprentice and Studio Artists show off their operatic chops and, while I haven't seen Face yet, Signor Deluso is just plain hilarious. Written by Thomas Pasatieri and based on the Moliere play Sganarelle, the comic opera is directed by Artistic Director Emeritus John Moriarty, who conducted the original production of the show in 1974. Signor Deluso tells the story of two couples who suspect that their loved ones are having affairs with others. I went to see a performance last week, and it was awesome. I'll sum it up for you in photos.

2010 Summer Performing Arts Intensive

It's been a whirlwind weekend up here in Central City. Colorado Springs Conservatory partnered with Central City Opera for the seventh Summer Performing Arts Intensive, bringing fourteen talented high school students to Central City for the weekend. The kids had been working for two weeks on a program of scenes and songs and their own original opera based on the life of Colorado native Antoinette Perry, Broadway actress, producer and namesake of the Tony Awards. The students came from around the country to spend those two weeks in Colorado Springs, culminating in a weekend of opera and performance right here in Central City.

They arrived last Wednesday and were greeted with a sandwich supper with company members. The students got to interact with some of the artists and staff members and ask questions, and it was lovely to talk to a group of such bright, interested students. They had seen Three Decembers before dinner, and they were all delighted to have Decembers stars Emily Pulley and Keith Phares to talk to. Other company members shared their wisdom as well, and as a student myself, I was thrilled to be able to hear their advice and watch them interact so warmly with the Summer Intensive students.

That, however, was just the beginning. The students got to see all three operas over the weekend, as well as some festival extras. In the midst of it all, they attended classes with CCO Musical Director John Baril and Artistic Director Emeritus John Moriarty, and they rehearsed for their performances, which took place Friday and Saturday night. I had the pleasure of attending Friday night's performance. I was touched and thrilled by what I saw. The performance consisted of a scenes program called Through the Eyes of a Child and an original opera, Toni: The Story of Antoinette Perry. The whole scene program was entertaining, but my favorite parts were the songs and monologues from the famous musical A Chorus Line. I sang in A Chorus Line when I was in high school, and I have a lot of wonderful memories that revolve around that show. The sections from it in the scenes program took me back. It was awesome.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes program, what I was really impressed with was the opera. Toni was entertaining, informative, and well written. The music was catchy and the performances were compelling. And while it perhaps bore more resemblance to musical theatre than it did to opera, I can't fault anyone for that; I enjoyed it too much.

It was also such a great pleasure to have high school kids around who were so enthusiastic about opera and theatre and so excited to be here! Opera generally has an older audience, so I'm always excited when I see one young person in the audience. It was inspiring to have 14 of them here.

Thanks to the hard work of everyone at the Colorado Springs Conservatory and here in CCO's education department and otherwise for their hard work in making this happen. It was a lovely weekend!

The Performing Arts Intensive is open to students ages 14-19.  Auditions for the 2011 Intensive will be held in the fall.  Visit www.centralcityopera.org/highschoolintensive or www.coloradospringsconservatory.org for more information.

A Peek at the Costumes of ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD

"Sara Jean Tosetti's spectacular costumes...manage to seem both historical and contemporary, with a showy, masquerade-ball sensibility."

- Kyle MacMillan, Denver Post

Today we’re sharing with you some of these bright, festive costumes from this year’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld.

As Marc Astafan describes the show in his Director’s Notes:

“It's about a married couple who are sick of each other and looking for adventure. They go to the Greek Gods for help and find out that the gods are just as frustrated with their perfect lives on Mount Olympus and all flee to Hades for fun and frolic. Each scene has its own distinct color scheme: Scene One on Earth in natural tones of green and yellow, Scene Two on Mount Olympus in celestial gold and silvers and white and blue, Pluto's Boudoir in Act II in sexy purple and gold, and the finale, featuring the "Can-can," in dazzling pinks, reds and black!”

So, first we’ll take a look at Sara Jean Tosetti’s original design sketches for the disgruntled married characters of Orpheus and Eurydice:

You can see those bright greens and golds stayed true to form in this production photo of Orpheus (Edward Mout) and Eurydice (Joanna Mongiardo).

When we asked our Facebook users for some of their favorite moments this year, “Tom” mentioned the memorable part when Jupiter disguises himself as a fly. First we’ll look at the fun costume sketch of his outfit:

And now we see how the design was fully realized in our production:

Pictured: Joanna Mongiardo (Eurydice) and Matthew Worth (Jupiter).

You’ll have to come see the show to see how the back of Jupiter’s costume turned out!

Now let’s take a look at Hades, where all the fun is. Eurydice is sketched in that dazzling pink, while one of the “Can-can” girls…well, she’s got some pink too!

And now for the real excitement of seeing it all on stage:

The "Can-can" from Central City Opera’s ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD(2010). Pictured: Joannna Mongiardo (Eurydice) and citizens of the Underworld.

Don’t you want to join in the party? Come up and see Orpheus in the Underworld this weekend!

Pictured (Above Center) Joannna Mongiardo (Eurydice) and (Below Center) Ryan MacPherson (Pluto) surrounded by citizens of the Underworld.

All production photos taken by Mark Kiryluk. All sketches by Sara Jean Tosetti, Costume Designer.