Madama Butterfly Pics

Sorry for the delay, but below are pics from the production of Madama Butterfly I directed this past spring. Thanks to Darleen Caruana, our photographer, for providing these pics taken at the dress rehearsal of March 6, 2008. One more production left this season, Pirates of Penzance, starring the teenagers in our Young Artist Program. Enjoy.

Kam Cheng (Cio Cio San), John Tsotsoros (Pinkerton) and Young Artist ensemble

Ensemble, Kam and John

John C. Taylor (Bonze)

Kam and Gustavo Ahualli (Sharpless)

Kam

Jessica Grigg (Suzuki), Kam and Gustavo

Sayonara Mad Butt

Congrats to my Madama Butterfly cast who closed the weekend with a sold out show and a visit by the police department. The show literally stopped traffic. The cause? An overflowing parking lot. We can only hope for continued violations in the future. As for the show, the audience reaction was amazing. We actually received a phone call already inquiring about Carmen tickets for next season. So now that the pressure is off for the current opera season - well, not completely since we start rehearsals for the Young Artist’s Pirates of Penzance at the end of March - we move on to the next project, Oklahoma!

So this is how crazy the Pineda family is. Sunday’s Butterfly matinee ends at five-ish, we strike the set, Trish runs out for MacDonald’s and we start rehearsals on the same stage for Oklahoma! at seven. Crazy, no? Anyway, the cast is fun and will sound amazing once we really start drilling them. But the stress is already mounting since we’re already dealing with cast members dropping out and rehearsal conflicts piling up. We had a major argument at the post-rehearsal production meeting with one of our producers and stage manger regarding understudies. Of course, we’re used to getting our way since we’ve always produced independently. But today we had to munch on some humble pie since CDC is not our theater and we must constantly remind ourselves that we’re now employees. It’s difficult, since we all have pretty large personalities, to put it mildly, and if we want to keep this relationship cordial and long-lasting, we’re going to have to make some compromises. It certainly is going to be a challenge considering the Pineda clan has definite control issues. It’s difficult to admit that the world does not revolve around a Pineda-axis. Well, at least not all the time, hehe. But we seemed to iron it all out by the end of the meeting.

Anyway, some random thoughts on Butterfly:

This is the first time in LOC history that we ran a show more than once in its entirety before the first performance. We actually had three full run-throughs! That’s just plain ridiculous.

I had some major agita Friday night, having been stuck at the office until well after six. I rushed to catch a late bus and nearly missed my show’s opening night. I managed to get to the theater by quarter of, only to find out that Gustavo (Sharpless) was stuck on a broken down bus, John (Pinkerton) was caught in traffic and Judd (our often MIA Commissioner) was no where to be found. But by eight the cast was complete, the house was full and everyone actually had a costume.

Val went to her bad place during the first intermission, asking me to pass on the note for the principals to "start acting." I decided to hold off on that note which turned out to be a wise decision, since the cast finally relaxed into their roles by the time Act Two got rolling. I’m sure the combination of stress, nervousness and that fact that three leads and the director were missing at half hour greatly contributed to their lack of concentration at the beginning of the performance.

On Sunday, the concert master arrived well after 2:15 PM for a 2:00 PM curtain. Juan and I were very close to losing our sh*t since the conductor didn’t seem to think this was such a big deal. We were about to start without him, but the second chair player informed us that the CM had the only copy of the violin part with the bowings marked in it. Two other orchestra members also arrived late, one by more than half. Val promptly told her to go home. This &%$*%& musician didn’t even have the decency to apologize and instead merely asked how much she was going to get paid. Paid?! She’s lucky I didn’t shove her bow up her ass. I don't care if she's friggin' Midori, who I'm sure would never arrive half an hour after the start of a performance anyway.

The theater has a serious restroom issue. We held curtain for both intermissions over five minutes waiting for people to pee!

Production photos posted shortly.

I hate to whine...

but I'm sooooo tired. Thankfully, Madama Butterfly opens tonight - or as I affectionately refer to it, Mad Butt. The cast seems pretty confident if a bit ragged energy-wise. They all sound vocally fantastic, but I can tell the rehearsal schedule has gotten to them as well - most, like me, have day jobs in the city.

Mom and dad are here for opening and the Pineda's Jersey apartment will be packed to the rafters with family. Hopefully, we won't kill each other before it's all over. Oh, wait, it's not over. This just means it's time to start rehearsals for Pirates... and Oklahoma! I can't wait until August when I have my evenings and weekends back again. Well, some of them. I have a sneaking suspicion that Carmen will start usurping my life in the fall. More on that and the Mad Butt opening (that sounds dirty!) later this weekend.

Sleep is highly overrated

We’re finally into tech week of Butterfly and I couldn’t be happier for it to be over. Don’t get me wrong, the cast is incredible, the orchestra sounds wonderful and the set even looks clean and classy, not just thrown together with furniture from friends’ living rooms like we usually end up doing. But this schedule of sitting behind a desk for nine hours and then commuting out to NJ for a four hour rehearsal is just tedious. Not to mention I’m way behind on episodes of Lost, American Idol and The Biggest Loser. I mean, you have to have your priorities. Anyway, Butterfly looks to be a great success, ticket-wise. The phone has been ringing off the hook with orders. So hopefully we may even get paid someday. Now that would truly be remarkable.

I think we may have even hit an LOC milestone, we’ve run through the entire opera and we still have two more run-throughs scheduled! I can’t remember when we’ve ever gotten one full run-through in before opening night. I can’t even remember the last time we got an entire show blocked - well, blocked a week before opening. Scary.

As I mentioned, the cast is crazy talented. John, our Pinkerton, could easily blow out your eardrums if you’re standing too close. Luckily, the voice is also gorgeous. Kam, (Cio-Cio San) sounds beautiful as usual and Jessica (Suzuki) is just remarkable. The kids told her that they call her “chocolate” because her voice is so smooth and creamy. We’ve even dangled a production of Carmen in front of her, hoping to win her back for next season. She seemed genuinely moved by our offer and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Tonight is the first run-through with costumes, so we’ll see what falls apart and who ends up running around the stage naked. Either way, I’m looking for tomorrow’s day off and vegging out in front of the TV, just me, the remote and a bag of chocolate.

"I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so"

I'm appalled to admit that I'm old enough to remember that silly Vapors song from the 80's (although I was in diapers, hehe - not). But yesterday's trek to Pearl River (my only night off this week and next) for Madama Butterfly props sent that idiotic, yet unforgettable refrain buzzing through my head. Weren't the early 80's a freaky time for pop music? - Funky Town, Call Me, Fame, The Rose - all so cheesy and awesome and pre-MTV!! God, I'm old. Anyway, if you've never visited Pearl River, it's this crazy store downtown that sells just about anything remotely associated with Asian (mainly Chinese) culture and arts. It's proven to be our "go to" spot for props and small set pieces. I can literally waste hours just wandering around the store because they have aisles and aisles of the coolest, random sh*t. I mean, how many different styles and colors of paper lanterns do you really need, anyway? Looking for a Buddha statue (they have a wall of them), origami paper, a Saki set, bamboo poles, weird herbs, blinds or strawberry Pocky? And everything is cheap, cheap, cheap! If you need to furnish your apartment on a budget without it looking like page 107 in the IKEA catalog, check it out.

Calgon, take me away...

Who's old enough to remember that? Anybody, anybody? Anyway, Butterfly rehearsals are a sheer delight, and by delight I mean they're sucking my soul dry. Every ounce of energy and creativity is being funneled into this project which leaves little leftover for my "real job" or the myriad other projects we (the Pineda's) have on our collective plate; namely Oklahoma, Les Mis, Pineda Conservatory, Pirates, Duets Concert, et al. I guess it doesn't help that I keep forgetting to eat on long rehearsal days, often going nine hours between lunch and dinner with not much more than a diet Coke and a pee break, sometimes with neither. And I can't really complain about the singers because they are definitely working their asses off and always arrive prepared. However, working with opera singers again after mainly working with musical theater actors, I am reminded of the very specific needs and expectations that accompany an opera singer's personality. I hasten to say "ego" since I don't want to seem derogatory. I was reading an extremely interesting article about Bartlett Sher, the current directorial wunderkind responsible for the critically-acclaimed productions of Light in the Piazza (Broadway), Barber of Seville (The Met) and the upcoming first Broadway revival of South Pacific. He says the following about directing at the Met:

The good news is that the singers arrive knowing the music. The bad news is they’ve sung it the same way for so long that they’re not willing to change much.

Those two sentences should be printed in big, bold, fluorescent (preferably neon) letters on the cover of any opera score being sent to an opera director before the start of rehearsals. If I had a penny for every time a singer said any one or combination of the following phrases to me: "that's not how we did it at [insert any opera company]", "but it's not traditionally done that way" or "I've never done it that way before" - I'd have, well, at least a buck or two in change (perhaps I should start charging a dime?). I think the main difference between opera singers and theater singers is their approach to the material. Granted, I understand that your average opera-goer wants to hear a remarkably sung Queen of the Night or Lucia or Giovanni or Almaviva and doesn't necessarily expect Oscar-worthy acting. But good singing and good acting are not mutually exclusive. I've seen the Damrau-Florez-Mattei Barber at the Met and I know that it's possible to make beautiful sounds while spinning around, falling on the floor and climbing ladders. The bar has been raised and opera singers need to get with the program.

When you ask an "actor" to make a cross on stage he'll say, "I'll think of a way to make that work." When you ask an opera singer the same thing, they say, "Why?" I think it's a mentality. Singers subconsciously assume that the acting expectation will be lower for them, thereby excusing themselves from developing the skills that theater actors take for granted as basic. Of course, the role of the director is to help guide the performer and "fill in the blanks" when an action or direction does seem unclear or problematic. But I think opera singers are just "lazy" actors and would rather you just say, "sit/stand in that spot and don't move." If that's the case, why bother singing opera? Best to lend your talents to the recital hall where you can stand in your spot and sing your high C in a fabulous gown (and jewels, of course).

I know I'm generalizing here. So don't go sending out the AGMA hit squad or revoking my Met subscription just yet. There are tremendously talented opera singers who are also wonderful actors. It's just frustrating working in an atmosphere where you constantly have to explain yourself because the ego level on stage is so high that the singers don't trust the director. The singer's thought process is not, "How do I fit into this scene? What is the main purpose of this scene? Who is most important in this scene?" Instead it's, "Do I look good in this scene?" What the singer forgets is that only the director sees "the big picture" and it's the director, not the singer, who is at fault if something isn't working from an audience perspective. A performer in a scene can never have the perspective to judge the moment in proper context because they are only a single piece of a very complicated puzzle.

I have no life

This week basically sucked. Between rehearsals and work, there really hasn’t been much time for anything else. So much for taking a break and “just working a day job.” My one day off this week, President’s day, ended up being just another work day. Mark, our conductor for Butterfly, is stressing out a bit about the whole production. So we, the Pineda siblings plus “the white one,” Val, were Mark’s bitches for the day. We were each given a set of orchestra parts to edit and notate per Mark’s instructions as he determined how to re-orchestrate “bare” moments in the score. Yes, it was just as exciting as it sounds. Don’t get me wrong, we were happy to help out. It was just that this particular work session followed a full 40-plus hour work week at the office, a three hour Friday night rehearsal, a Saturday filled with prop shopping, an extremely long and uneven high school production of South Pacific and a five hour Sunday rehearsal. By the time Monday afternoon rolled around (which got us through about three quarters of the first act of the score) we had lost Val to cyberspace and Trish to the seemingly more exciting prospect of writing and emailing press releases. Sad, huh? I’m so looking forward to Thursday when I finally get an evening off, having had Butterfly rehearsals both nights this week after work. Oh, to be a normal, lazy, overweight American.

She waited three years? Really?

So I’m starting to change my mind about Madama Butterfly. I’ve always thought of it as kind of boring and frankly kind of stupid. I understand the whole “anything for love” idea, but after three years of not hearing from a guy, you’re just ridiculously naïve or just plain dense to believe this guy’s coming back for you. Yes, I know, she’s fifteen and he was probably one of the first men she’s slept with, but she’s a geisha for God’s sake! I know that’s not the same thing as a prostitute, but still. Maybe if she was isolated on an island or lived like a hermit on some mountain I could believe in her unwavering faith. But she lives in Nagasaki, a major city, and has easy access to the Consul who I’m sure she’s pressured on more than one occasion for the whereabouts of her deadbeat husband.

Kam (Butterfly), Jessica (Suzuki) and I have decided to play the religion card. Since Butterfly is basically an outcast and shunned by her family and friends, the only recourse she has now is faith, and that faith will be exemplified by her devotion to Christianity. I think this choice makes her unwavering belief in the sanctity of her union with Pinkerton much stronger. Modern audiences can easily relate to her religious zeal, which is actually just a substitute for the lack of real emotional support from family and friends.

I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but every production I've ever watched live or on DVD has basically just glossed over any type of explanation for why Butterfly would wait so long for this guy. The audience is just asked to accept this plot point simply because it is accompanied by beautiful music. So I've decided to open the second act with Suzuki praying to Buddha and Butterfly praying to God. For me, this explains her seemingly inexplicable behavior and raises the stakes for Butterfly until she has no choice but to believe that God has forsaken her. Her suicide is a combination of grief over her lost love, the renouncing of her adopted religion and an apology to her family, ancestors and country for forsaking them for the false love of a man. Now that's some deep sh*t yo!

I think Both Kam and Jessica are really investing in this concept and the relationship they are starting to develop is really quite beautiful. Of course, this was an added rehearsal so we didn't feel the pressure of time constraints. I have a feeling as the performance dates get closer, the relaxed, casual ease that marked tonight's rehearsal will collapse into full-fledged panic. I'm staying optimistic though. We have the makings of a first rate production and I don't want to jinx it.

On a side note, Trish has been spending hours scouring the basement of Pearl River (if you've never been, make a visit, it's like an Asian Target) to find just the right Asian props for the show. We've also been getting a steady stream of fake hair in the mail. Good times.

I Miss My Weekends...

So another crazy weekend of rehearsals, auditions and random crap. Friday night - three hours of Madama Butterfly rehearsal, Saturday - was a live dress form for Val's kimono pattern and watched DVD's of old MB performances ad nauseum, Sunday - three more hours of MB rehearsal followed by four hours of auditions for our summer theatre program. A weekend in the country, this was not. Looking at my worn wall calendar (I'm old school, I actually write down my schedule - yes, with one of those long, skinny yellow things filled with lead - on a huge wall calendar in the kitchen), it appears I won't have a free weekend until May! Good Lord, May! So much for taking a break from the "business."

The good news is that MB is shaping up to be quite a spectacular production. Everyone in the cast has a huge voice and that little theatre is going to get it's roof blown off. I still can't believe that the theatre's regular tenant, CDC, uses mic's for all their shows. I can understand using mic’s for rock shows or for shows with more modern orchestrations, but we had a twenty piece orchestra for Fledermaus and there was no problem hearing any of those singers. Oh well, I guess the days of unamplified singing in musical theatre are over.

Auditions for the summer are crazy! It's obvious that high school students are way better trained than I was at that age. Either that, or I was the only geek interested in musical theatre, because I don't remember talent like this in high school. Unfortunately, Cameron Mackintosh may screw our program over and not give us the rights to Les Mis school addition for the summer. I guess a bunch of high school kids 80 miles away in Cranford, NJ are a major threat to ticket sales of a proposed National Tour sit-down in Philadelphia. We should be so lucky.

Anyway, I think the highlight of the whole weekend was running out to White Castle late Sunday night and purchasing the 30-burger case with fries, onion rings and shakes. They sure tasted good going down, but were considerably less pleasant on the way out this morning. I think I definitely need to get my fat a** down to the gym again. I think I'm going on 18 months sans workout! Pretty sad for someone who used to be a gym rat. Oh well, six-pack abs are highly overrated.

Butterfly Men

I'm exhausted and excited because we're two men closer to having a full cast for Madama Butterfly.  Good thing, since we start rehearsals in two weeks!   In another "small world" experience, the first to audition, John Taylor, had heard good things about our company from one of our favorite singers, Michelle Trovato, a sickly talented soprano who was in our fall production of Fledermaus.  The second, Judd Ernster, went to MSM with Val and I and coaches with one of Kam's (our Butterfly) former coaches in Philadelphia.  Luckily, both were in great voice and we happily offered them the Bonze and Commissioner respectively.  Now I think we only have the cousin and the uncle to take care of.  I'm not getting too hopeful since if we ever had a full cast set before any one of our operas, I'd know Armageddon was surely close at hand.