DAY TEN - Wednesday April 4
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANET
I called Janet at a minute after midnight NY time - to wish her a happy birthday.
First, we had a press conference - pictures below. We were at a table with the Consul General of the US (D. Michael Reinert) to this region (he has half of Siberia as well). There were several video cameras, still cameras and journalists - us and our interpreters. As the conference was getting ready to start this music came blaring through a sound system and suddenly, we were thrown into an episode of "Dancing With The Stars!" This scantily-clad dancing couple came out and danced a rather sexy dance that should have either been on the ice somewhere, or in some club in Las Vegas - but they were amazing dancers. The press secretary of the theatre said that they had the dancers there because there is a lot of dance in "The Duchess of Chicago." The dancing that they did and the dancing that is in our show are not similar at all. We each introduced ourselves and spoke about our particular departments and then when it was over, a really cool band, "Emerald" (Izumrud)played a cover of an American song - they were fantastic.
Then... to rehearsal - where we started by singing Janet happy birthday (see video).
A message from the cast:
The end of the Russian birthday song it says "Too bad birthdays only come once a year."
We continued our read and then had a delicious Japanese lunch (2nd day in a row) - see videos below about this great restaurant...
When anybody enters, they bang a gong!
You can't really see it in this video but the spout on this tea kettle is about 3 feet long!
A couple of our interpreters.
By the way this is how they park here in Russia!
Then we auditioned kids for the show. We need three boys and three girls. We'll (apparently) have three casts of each - so we'll cast 9 boys and 9 girls. There were about 15 boys in this class - and they were tugging them back and forth saying "This boy can sing, this boy can dance, these boys cannot sing..." It seemed rather insensitive to the boys involved. I had them all shout out a little newsboy line and we selected our favorite three for that role - then danced them a bit to get the other kids. But all discussions were in front of the boys - with no concern for who was being disappointed (NOT getting a part) and who WAS getting a part. It was a little awkward for us Americans.
In the evening, we finished our table work. During our breaks I went into the theatre to see their production of Offenbach's "Bluebeard." They are retiring the production tonight. I was in a whole different galaxy, design-wise, from the first show we saw and, understandably, much more opulent and showy than Fiddler. But it was AMAZINGLY designed. Crazy, gorgeous, imaginative costumes, really cool deconstructed/worn/elegant set. I then learned it is the same designer who has given us our gorgeous sets and costumes! It was very exciting to see the kind of production values we are used to in the states happening here. Based on the first two shows I saw (clearly smaller budgets) I wasn't sure if the gorgeous designs I had received from the designer could actually be achieved. But, from this evidence, it appears they will.
Here are our set renderings and a couple of costume designs by Slava Okunev (sp?) of St. Petersburg - NOT Florida!
The Prologue and Epilogue - The Grill Americain
And... goodnight.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANET
I called Janet at a minute after midnight NY time - to wish her a happy birthday.
First, we had a press conference - pictures below. We were at a table with the Consul General of the US (D. Michael Reinert) to this region (he has half of Siberia as well). There were several video cameras, still cameras and journalists - us and our interpreters. As the conference was getting ready to start this music came blaring through a sound system and suddenly, we were thrown into an episode of "Dancing With The Stars!" This scantily-clad dancing couple came out and danced a rather sexy dance that should have either been on the ice somewhere, or in some club in Las Vegas - but they were amazing dancers. The press secretary of the theatre said that they had the dancers there because there is a lot of dance in "The Duchess of Chicago." The dancing that they did and the dancing that is in our show are not similar at all. We each introduced ourselves and spoke about our particular departments and then when it was over, a really cool band, "Emerald" (Izumrud)played a cover of an American song - they were fantastic.
From L to R - Patti Colombo, Me, Irina (Gugu) - one of our interpreters, Boris Nodelman - Chief Conductor
Me - about to say... something.
Patti saying something profound.
The Maestro... Grisha
D. Michael Reinert - the Consul General
Me signing a board about what surprises us about Russia. I said something about how vibrant the culture is.
Patti - looking very lovely.
Me... looking very goofy. I hope they didn't publish this one!
The panel...
Patti - writing about culture AND how everyone here had great skin.
The dancing couple who were great - but their dances had nothing to do with our show - other than they were "dancing" and there is "dancing" in our show!
The dancers
Then... to rehearsal - where we started by singing Janet happy birthday (see video).
A message from the cast:
The end of the Russian birthday song it says "Too bad birthdays only come once a year."
We continued our read and then had a delicious Japanese lunch (2nd day in a row) - see videos below about this great restaurant...
When anybody enters, they bang a gong!
You can't really see it in this video but the spout on this tea kettle is about 3 feet long!
A couple of our interpreters.
By the way this is how they park here in Russia!
Then we auditioned kids for the show. We need three boys and three girls. We'll (apparently) have three casts of each - so we'll cast 9 boys and 9 girls. There were about 15 boys in this class - and they were tugging them back and forth saying "This boy can sing, this boy can dance, these boys cannot sing..." It seemed rather insensitive to the boys involved. I had them all shout out a little newsboy line and we selected our favorite three for that role - then danced them a bit to get the other kids. But all discussions were in front of the boys - with no concern for who was being disappointed (NOT getting a part) and who WAS getting a part. It was a little awkward for us Americans.
In the evening, we finished our table work. During our breaks I went into the theatre to see their production of Offenbach's "Bluebeard." They are retiring the production tonight. I was in a whole different galaxy, design-wise, from the first show we saw and, understandably, much more opulent and showy than Fiddler. But it was AMAZINGLY designed. Crazy, gorgeous, imaginative costumes, really cool deconstructed/worn/elegant set. I then learned it is the same designer who has given us our gorgeous sets and costumes! It was very exciting to see the kind of production values we are used to in the states happening here. Based on the first two shows I saw (clearly smaller budgets) I wasn't sure if the gorgeous designs I had received from the designer could actually be achieved. But, from this evidence, it appears they will.
Here are our set renderings and a couple of costume designs by Slava Okunev (sp?) of St. Petersburg - NOT Florida!
The Prologue and Epilogue - The Grill Americain
Act One - The Sylvarian Palace, Throne Room
Act Two - The Sylvarian Palace, Throne Room - after Mary's renovation.
And some costumes...
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