Do you remember Central City Opera's dynamic West Side Story in 2008? The creative team who brought us that fabulous production, as well as 2011's Triple Bill of one-act operas (Director Ken Cazan, Scenic Designer Cameron Anderson, Lighting Designer David Martin
Jacques and Costume Designer Alice Marie Kugler Bristow), have reunited for Vancouver Opera's West Side Story. A recent review proclaimed, "this co-production of Vancouver Opera and Colorado’s Central City Opera can even be said to outshine the mostly brilliant movie version."
The Vancouver West Side Story is artistically based on our 2008 production and indeed uses many of the scenic elements featured previously on the Central City Opera stage. This week, I caught up with Cindy Maupin, Central City Opera's assistant carpenter, who traveled to Canada to assist with the scenic transfer and load-in to the theatre.
Cindy Maupin, Central City Opera's assistant carpenter, enjoying the sights in Vancouver.
Prior to arriving in Canada, Cindy spent several weeks pouring over blueprints, refreshing herself on the intricate details of the scenery and consulting with David "Mick" Jackson, Central City Opera's head carpenter, on what to anticipate during the tech process.
The Colorado scenery was shipped by truck to Vancouver.
Vancouver Opera has a much larger stage than ours in Central City, so Scenic Designer Cameron Anderson expanded the design. The "working" pieces of scenery - like Maria's entrance and Doc's door - are generally pieces from the original Colorado set, but additional elements have been added to fill out the stage.
The original Central City Opera production used one arch; the design has been expanded here.
The tip of this wall came from Central City, but the rest of the diagonal was added for Vancouver.
"Working" parts of the scenery, like the door above, were installed from the
Colorado production, but the rolling wagons on which they were placed
were increased in size. The pieces roll so smoothly, however, that the
crew remains essentially the same size as the one used in Central City.
With Cindy's
guidance, the second wall was smoothly assembled in roughly half an
hour. (It still took a lot of teamwork to get it in the air!)
Compare the photo above to the first design shown in the following video of preliminary designs from Scenic Designer Cameron Anderson. Note the original red paint on the wall and how the design has been extended to our left.
A few mementos of the Central City Opera production remain, including this playful message from crew members regarding a certain performer's offstage ritual before entering the scene.
This was Cindy's first real experience in Canada, other than the brief memory of a trip when she was four years old. She took advantage of her free time away from the opera house, spending time exploring Granville Island and other sights, as well as checking out the local karaoke bars (a favorite pasttime). This original "Gulf Coast gal" particularly enjoyed eating fresh seafood every day, from salmon to raw oysters - a treat she's missed while living in the Rocky Mountains. However, if you ask her what her favorite part was about the experience, it was simply the opportunity to travel for Central City Opera in this position. In a heartfelt moment, Cindy expressed her complete gratitude towards
Festival Production Manager Karen T. Federing and Technical Director Nathan E. Thompson for choosing her. "I cried when I was given this opportunity - overwhelmed that they trusted me."
Cindy considers this trip the pinnacle of her career - so far. Calling herself "just a girl," Cindy first worked with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Denver Local 7) in January of 1999, straight from being a stay-at-home mom. On Father's Day of the same year she was assigned to Central City Opera. New to the business then, she credits guidance from Mick and her fellow union brothers and sisters for making her a familiar face backstage now in venues throughout the Denver metro area. She has held the title of Assistant Carpenter at Central City Opera for the last four years.
Cindy can't say enough about her fellow union members on the Vancouver
Opera crew (Local 118), either. "They were great - very nice," she said. "I went straight to
the crew room the night of rehearsal and told them so, to which Scott,
their head carpenter, replied, 'Well, we're Canadian - we're supposed to be nice!'"
Vancouver Opera's West Side Story runs through this Saturday, October 29th. Video of the production, showing the completed scenery, can be
found on the Vancouver Opera
website. Compare the finished product with Cameron Anderson's preliminary designs.
Okay, technically it's still officially fall, but WINTER has come to Colorado overnight. Gilpin County Schools in Central City are closed for the day. Down here at the Denver office we're still plugging away, but there's certainly a white layer on everything. Here's a shot from my office window, overlooking Colorado and Alameda Boulevards in south Denver.
Yes, the Denver office keeps working away all year long and things are quite busy around here! Applications have come in for our 2012 Bonfils-Stanton Artists Training Program, so the Music staff is busy sorting through them for our upcoming auditions. (Applicants will be notified if they have been accepted for an audition by November 18, 2011, or October 28, 2011, for Denver auditions.) The Education & Community Programs Department, myself included, has just returned from a mini-tour in Lander, Wyoming, and is prepping for our Opera Rocks the Rockies tour. This yearly collaboration with CU Opera will start off with a public performance in Parker, Colorado on November 4th, then head north to several communities in Wyoming. We're also keeping busy with additional performances like our brand-new school show Eureka Street, visiting community groups with Opera on the Go and a great number of performances of Inside the Orchestra in collaboration with the Junior Symphony Guild. Down the hall, the Development Department is busy writing grants, securing donations and gearing up for Colorado Gives Day on December 6th. Meanwhile, Marketing is working on ad campaigns and artwork for our 2012 Festival and of course the Box Office is busy with subscription renewals.
You can renew your subscriptions from the comfort of your own home, either by mailing in the form you received or calling the Box Office at 303-292-6700...Or, if you want to venture out in the snow today, it's now even easier to find us thanks to the new sign with the Central City Opera logo in front of our building.
That's 400 South Colorado Boulevard, at the southeast corner of Colorado and Alameda in southeast Denver. Look for the blue mirrored building, then use the elevator on the East side of the building (towards the Super Target and Sports Authority) to the fifth floor. The Box Office is Suite 525 and the Administrative Office is 530 (both are connected - we've got two entrances). Stop in and see us sometime!
As Central City Opera's Festival Production Manager, I spend each
year getting ready for our season, managing our current Festival, closing it
down and getting ready for the next one. Now that our 2011 Festival has finished
and all my production staff and interns have scattered to the four winds, this
is my time to start closing down the details of my 9th season with Central City
Opera.
Festival Production Manager Karen Federing and the 2011 Festival Staffers
First comes my drive home; I head back to the East Coast where
I've lived much of my life - most of it in New York City. Then I take a few
days to unpack, regroup and readjust to sea level and the summer coastal humidity
that I've avoided by spending my summers in the foothills of the Rockies.
So Tuesday at about 1:52pm ET, I was working in my home office in
Maryland (just 30 minutes northwest of Washington, DC). I was making budget
entries for my weekly expense report of remaining Festival expenses and looking
over photos of our sets this season so I can use them to advertise potential
rentals to other opera companies. And then the floor started to shake. And then
the ceiling - which was really strange. I thought it was neighbor kids running
around outside at first. And then I did what no intelligent Californian would
do - I ran outside. No kids anywhere. The stairwell was shaking like mad as I
went down the stairs and kept shaking as I watched. It took a few minutes to
register that I was experiencing my 1st earthquake. All I can say is that it
was a pretty unnerving experience - especially the feeling that my office
ceiling was going to fall in, which is really what made me want to leave my
office. When I went back inside, framed photos and knick-knacks had been
knocked from shelves and framed art was hanging lopsided - proof of a 5.8
quake, to be sure.
I went back to my computer (where I'd been in mid-e-mail
conversation with staff in our Denver office), told them what had happened, and
went back to work. But I also spent much of the day checking with family and
friends here and up in New York, and fielding text messages from all over the
place, sharing experiences and a sense of wonder.
It's pretty impressive to think we can stay this connected under
duress. I was still living in New York City when September 11 happened, and I
will say Tuesday brought me back to that day just a little - especially the
desire to reach family and share that we were all ok. But on that day, I could only reach my family right there in New York, not reaching my family in DC until much later in the day, which was quite terrifying. At least Tuesday, technology brought us all together.
If you didn't get enough of Carmen this summer, you might want to head up to Fort Collins this weekend. Central City Opera has ties to the two leads of Opera Fort Collins' production of Bizet's classic.
Jennifer DeDominici (Carmen) and John Lindsey (Don José) in Opera Fort Collins' production of Carmen
Jennifer DeDominici (Carmen) portrayed Pitti Sing in The Mikado, a Central City Opera collaboration with the Colorado Symphony a few years ago, and is a member of the Central City Opera Ensemble. As part of our "Where is Carmen?" marketing campaign for the Denver performance of Carmen this summer, Jennifer entertained audiences at Comedy Works with a sampling of the saucy diva.
(That's our own version of "supertitles" in the background.)
As for Carmen's love interest Don José, John Robert Lindsey will sing the role for Opera Fort Collins in the same production. This summer, John was a Studio Artist with Central City Opera, where his Short Works performances included scenes from Ariadne Auf Naxos, Susannah and A View from the Bridge, as well as in the ensemble for Carmen, Amadigi di Gaula and The Breasts of Tiresias. As a student at the University of Colorado - Boulder last year, John also toured with the Central City Opera as part of our Opera Rocks the Rockies tour, an annual collaboration with the University of Colorado Opera Studies program. (Jennifer also participated in this tour a few years earlier as a CU student.) Pictured below, John performed pieces from Carmen with Nicole Vogel and pianist Michael Tilley in Opera Rocks the Rockies.
Central City Opera and the University of Colorado Opera Studies will hit the road again in November with their annual Opera Rocks the Rockies tour featuring tomorrow's opera stars. Stay tuned for further details of this tour scheduled to include schools and community centers in Wyoming and a few Denver-area venues. To book a performance at your venue, visit the Regional Touring page or contact education@centralcityopera.org.
Watch Jennifer and John heat up the stage in Carmen with Opera Fort Collins
at the recently renovated Fort Collins Lincoln Center. Performances are
Friday, August 26th, at 7:30 p.m.and Sunday, August 28th at 2 p.m.
Photo credits: Opera Fort Collins publicity photo as published on ReporterHerald.com;Where is Carmen? - Hilary Miller; Untitled - Christina Jackson, Denver Art Museum; Opera Rocks the Rockies - Erin Joy Swank
Here's something new and different - a jigsaw puzzle from a production photo of The Breasts of Tiresias. Enjoy!
Central City Opera’s THE BREASTS OF TIRESIAS (2011). Pictured: Joanna Mongiardo (Thérèse). Photo by Mark Kiryluk. [Hint: if a piece gets trapped under the partially completed puzzle, hit "Shuffle Pieces" to bring it forward.]
Hopefully, you had a chance to head up the hill this summer and check out all that the 2011 Festival had to offer. There was certainly something for everyone of all interests and all ages.
The final week offered a special day for kids! On August 4th, children found out that it doesn't take a wizard to understand opera as they experienced the festivities surrounding the Family Matinee performance of Amadigi di Gaula. The Central City Opera Guild hosted Take a Child to the Opera where kids learned in a fun and engaging way about Amadigi and what it takes to put together an opera.
Deven Shaff and Deb Morrow of Central City Opera's Education & Community Programs started off the event with some creative mind-bending ice breakers such as the Silent Machine. All joined in by creating a motion sans sound and becoming part of the machine!
Kids and adults all make a motion sans sound and create the Silent Machine.
Then, using the simple rhyme "Humpty Dumpty", Deven demonstrated how an opera is built by having the kids create scenes from the action points in a story. Here you can see how all of the horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again!
Kids re-enact an action point from Humpty Dumpty - Poor Humpty!
The event culminated in the kids re-creating scenes from Amadigi so they would be ready for the opera! With special gifts from the Guild in hand (a Central City Opera rain poncho and a magic wand - a very fitting combination indeed!), everyone headed across the street to the Teller House for a magic show with The Wizard from The Wizard's Chest in Cherry Creek. Hearing about the magical prestidigitations, a huge group of kids appeared to watch in wonder as they waited for a rabbit to come out of the hat!
The Wizard brought his bag of tricks from The Wizard's Chest.
A huge audience of kids came to watch the magic of The Wizard before heading off to Amadigi.
As a final hurrah, all of the children followed the sorceress in a costume parade past the wizard through the Opera House Garden and back. The Wizard used his magic lightbulb to choose the costume winners.
After an exciting start to the day, the children were treated to the simple magic of opera. Imagine what next year has in store...
To keep in the loop about upcoming events this fall and spring, join our eMail club!
“On May 6, 1859, John H. Gregory located, staked, and pre-empted the first mining claims in what was to become known as the 'Richest Square Mile on Earth.' This spot, marked by the Gregory Monument, is near the city limits of Central City and Black Hawk. The area was originally called Gregory's Diggings, but very soon became known as Mountain City. News of the strike reached Denver by May 17th. First publication of this was in the May 28, 1859 issue of the Rocky Mountain News. As of May 23rd, there were a total of 14 claims in the gulch.” -Gilpin Historical Society
July 30 and 31 "Mountain City" welcomed visitors during the first Central City Days. Great events and opportunities made for two jam-packed days of fun at historic heights! Adventure goers went on bike rides around ghost towns near Nevadaville and tours of historic Black Hawk and Central City. Led by the Gilpin County Historical Society staff, opera-goers and history-buffs alike could see where the beginnings of the Colorado gold rush took place.
Patrons who purchased the VIP passes for Saturday were treated to a relaxing party at the McFarlane Memorial next to the Cour D'Alene Mine. Guests kicked back with a brew and enjoyed the glorious vista over Central City while listening to the folksy tunes from the incredibly talented group The Mile Markers. Sunday afternoon, the party moved to Central City Opera's historic Johnson House where guests mingled on the front lawn with a glass of Colorado mead. Featured during the VIP events were libations from Oskar Blues Brew & ‘Q as well as Grande River Winery and Infinite Monkey Theorem, plus mead from Redstone Meadery Meads.
All of these events highlighted the 2011 Festival’s “festivalization” process. This milestone year included an expanse in offerings and more opportunities for opera-goers to enjoy the historic city in which Central City Opera was born. Read the press release about this exciting process, which will likely be continued and refined in the years to come.
The 2011 Festival might be over but there is always plenty to check out in Central City. Next time you're there, be sure to stop by the Gilpin Historical Society to get a walking tour of our historical property! I’m willing to bet they would be more than happy to tell you a bit about Mountain City, too!
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