Carmen

I wrote already about singing in the Utah Festival Opera's production of "Carmen." Opening night was last night, and went very well. We had a good audience and when I talked to people afterward, they seemed to have enjoyed it. It's hard to sleep when you get home at 11:30 all fired up from performing! I have six more performances to go, and about half are matinees. I have been amazed at the detail that goes into their productions. I am a lowly chorus member, but still have four costumes and two wigs. I thought I'd share some of my costumes.

In Act one, we are "cigarette girls" who work in a factory making cigarettes. We come out on a break from the factory, glistening with sweat (glycerine) and sing (and pretend to smoke) and flirt with the soldiers. Later in that same act we get to come out and do a rousing singing cat fight which is a blast. They actually have some soldiers use ropes to hold back the sopranos from the altos. We sing an argument, stomping our feet and waving our arms, and then we break free from the ropes and go after each other. Every night before the show there is a "fight call" where the ones who actually roll around on the floor have a walk through fight to be sure there are no injuries. I fight more daintily, up on the riser with Judy (on the right in the picture). We just grab each other by the arms and turn a circle and then two other ladies come and break us up.

These four ladies (including me) are all American Festival Chorus volunteers. Most of the chorus are paid professionals, but they brought a few of us in to fill in the chorus and add maturity to the group.

Here's the back of my head in Act One.

In Act Two, I change to a fancier wig and become a member of the town. I come in on the arm of one of the men in the cast and we listen to the bull fighter, Escamillo as he flaunts his escapades. I make doe eyes at him and sigh a bit.

I even get to wear a "snood." (That's the net thing on my hair.)

In Act three, we're gypsies, smuggling boxes of guns over the mountains. In that Act I add a big blanket-like shawl and this head dress. I also unroll my sleeves, since we're supposed to be cold. Actually we're cooking because we have Act 4 clothing on underneath our costumes for the quick change into that act. (You can see the wigs for Mikado up on the shelf behind me - but I'm not in that opera.)

Then in Act Four, we cheer and jump and sing as the toreadors come in at the parade. Of course, we need to dress fancy for the bullfight, so here's my fancy outfit.

I must admit, now it's fun. It wasn't at the beginning.