sweeneytodd

Well, no rest for the wicked.

I'm about to plunge head-first into rehearsals for our next opera -- AIDA.

For those of you who are not so much down with the opera stuff, AIDA is a massive, Cecil B. DeMille-style epic set in Ancient Egypt (but sung, of course, in Italian). For a lot of people, it's most famous for having inspired a really shitty Broadway musical by Elton John (and boy, is it shitty). For those of us in the opera business, it means cramming as much spectacle on the stage as humanly possible. In our case, that means a double cast of principal singers, a chorus of 80, an orchestra of 70, a dozen dancers, 40 extras, massive sets, opulent costumes, and (this is the kicker) live friggin' animals. That's right -- all those people will have to share the stage with a white stallion, a camel, a zebra, a watusi (that's an African steer), and a 10-foot python.

Sounds like fun, right?

Add to all that, one of the singers is a high-maintenance Russian diva who has brought both her mother and her lapdog, the two tenors are both faux-Italians from New Jersey who cordially detest each other, and we don't even see the very expensive, show-stopping livestock until the final rehearsal.

I need a drink already.

So anyway, if I fall off the face of the earth for a little while, don't think I don't love you. Hope everyone is well.

Cheers.