Random Facts and Stories about the Theater

These are some tidbits I've picked up about the Landestheater Coburg after a month on the job:

1. For an average opera, there are about 2 weeks of musical rehearsals, 2 weeks of stage rehearsals, and after the premiere each opera gets between 15 and 20 performances spread over about 3 months.

2. The stage in the theater has a huge circle cut into it that spins, making set changes and scene shifts quick and easy. We use it in Hello Dolly! and it took awhile to get over the seasick feeling when it was spinning.

3. On average, singers in the choir at a small theater make more money than the soloists, have more job protection than the soloists, and work less than the soloists.

4. An alarming amount of singers, dancers and actors in the theater smoke.

5. There are two married couples in the choir. In addition, one woman in the choir is married to a prompter, and another woman is married to an actor. The coupling runs like the plague through the entire theater, apparently.

6. During the applause after a performance, the assistant director always stands on the side and tells us when to bow so it's always in sync.

7. I am the youngest singer in the choir by 10 years.

8. The theater community is totally international. Singers and dancers come from all over the world, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the US (yaay!), Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Poland, and Russia.

9. The soloists (and sometimes even choir members) are regularly stopped on the street by fans. The public here really embrace the singers and follow their careers very closely, for better or worse.

10. The theater always throws a great party after the premiere of an opera, play, or ballet.

Costumes, Makeup and Wigs, oh my!

Here is a peek at some of the costumes I am wearing for our current productions!

This is my maiden's costume for the market scene in Martha. During this scene in the opera all of the choristers go from one stand to another shopping for food, flowers and wine. Most of the items we "buy" are fake, but there are normally real apples, soft pretzels and sometimes cookies for us to eat while we browse. During the last performance I actually aquired a goose! It was a big (and heavy!!) stuffed animal that I had to carry around onstage for about 10 minutes.





















This is my hunting costume for Martha. The women in the choir act as Lady Harriet's entourage on a hunting expedition and in this scene we sit around picnic tables and get drunk on schnapps as the lead Mezzo sings an aria about love. The "schnapps" is actually watered-down apple juice, but we all still end up getting giggly and giddy onstage!




















This is my first costume in Hello Dolly! The choristers are all well-to-do and in the first scene we mingle around the town waiting for our train to arrive. There are three other scenes in the show when I wear this costume, so it's good that it is comfortable. Sometimes the women in the wig room get a little overzealous with the hat pins, though...




















This is my Harmonia Gardens ball gown. During this scene my date and I are enjoying an evening at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant. Our "champagne" is watered-down apple juice (again) and our dessert of "pudding" turns out to be green jello. I tried the jello at our first dress rehearsal and thought it tasted pretty good, but I haven't eaten any since then because we have been served the SAME bowl of jello 6 times in a row now. I guess they just pop it back in the fridge after the scene each night.