Act I Is Done: Act II To Do

April 27, 2008 - Greetings from lovely NH! Actually today NH is grey and rainy but the past week has been glorious so I really can't complain. The crappy weather just provides added incentive to stay in my hotel room and finish translating Handel's Apollo and Dafne for our upcoming performances at Artscape this July. (BTW, the Handel will feature Ryan de Ryke and Lisa Eden both of whom wowed our audiences a week ago in Orpheus in the Underworld. I know Ryan's pop-infused, drunken minuet is indelibly burned in my memory). Anyway, I've finished staging Act I of Cosi and the first three scenes of Act II and am once again struck by the exraordinary structure of this opera. Act I is full of some of the most intricate and brilliant ensemble work in the operatic repertoire. It fizzes along and is filled with uproarious humor. Act II on the other hand is a sequence of extraordinary arias interrupted by an occasional short ensemble and reveals the very real human heart that beats at the center of this not entirely comic piece. I relish really digging into the second act and bringing the cast to an even deeper more nuanced interpretation of their roles.

On another front, I would like to personally encourage the readers of this blog to comment or ask questions. I had hoped that my Memories and Wishes post would bring about a tide of favorite memories or maybe some goals that our audience would like to see OV achieve in its next 10 years but so far only the indefatigable Clayton Koonce has commented. Surely there's more than one reader of this blog? Anyway, it's certainly much more inspiring for me to write the blog as a dialog shaped at least in part by its readers rather than in a vacuum. So come on cyber buddies, let me know what you're thinking and as always -

See you at the opera! - John Bowen