Tuesday

During the sitz last night I made a major discovery. The problem with O mio babbino is not O mio babbino: it's all the crazy stuff that comes before. Which, as opera singers, we're supposed to know, and I think I did kind of...except that the rehearsal hall was acoustically so dead, that I always blamed my problems on that. Well, the theater is lovely, and the sound is fab, so I knew that I couldn't use that as an excuse any more. And I kept wondering why I could sing it so well at home, in the studio, with my coach, and then suddenly at rehearsal felt like I had very little control and was pushing! WELL: The quartet section is very rangy, very loud, and very fast, and it happens about one minute before the aria. Which is really NOT enough time to come back down ground myself into my support after all the adrenaline and shaky excitement that seems to accumulate during that insane section. And while I like to be in character at all times, BEING Lauretta, I realized last night that those few seconds in between the quartet and the aria is one time I'm going to have to paste on a Lauretta-ish expression (not too difficult considering) and FOCUS on getting grounded and getting my breath back, or I'll be totally one hundred percent F***ed. Big time.

And especially since orchestras seem to have an ineffable compulsion to play the aria three times as slow as I want to take it. But we worked it out, and I felt for the first time, that I was really singing it well, notwithstanding all the little things we singers notice that aren't perfect and we want to eventually fix.

Tonight, before the dress, my mission is to get a head start on opening night cards, and find some flats to wear with my costume. I'm a tall girl. It'll be a good investment. And I CAN'T wait to wear fake eyelashes tonight. I wish I could wear them everyday, but somehow, I don't think it would really fly.