La Musica Lirica

01 Renee painting Figaro

Thoughout the tech rehearsals, work on scenery continued. Here are the walls from Figaro, laid out in the shop as Renee (the scenic designer and TD) painted detail. That’s scenic/lighting intern Sean Houston in the back, there.

02 I jump in for Lucia portrait

The director of Lucia (Francois Loup) had asked for a portrait to hang in one of the scenes. I jumped in and banged it out. Here it is in progress. . .

07 finish lucia portrait

. . . and the next day, done.

03 Figaro a bit more done

More of the Figaro walls go up.
08 loading the truck for san marino

Here we are, loading the truck for one of the first tour dates — San Marino, which was about half an hour away.

09 inside the theatre in san marino

Interior of the theatre in San Marino, which, sadly enough, we did not perform in; though we used the dressing areas. Wonderful space, and if you note, contained the only ERS units we saw the whole trip.

10 inside the theatre in san marino 2

The San Marino theatre from the stage. We played in the Piazza Sant’ Agata, directly in front of the theatre.

11 getting set up in san marino

Here is the set, mostly up. The fellow to the right is Roberto, one of the team of local lighting technicians who made our lives much, much easier on many of the tour dates. He was also a singer.

16 the view from above in san marino

A view of the stage from above.

14 the board in san marino

The board du jour. Since most of the outside venues used the same lighting company, this was the board for most outdoor dates.

12 the view from dinner in san marino

On the dinner break, Renee, Maura (our props master), and myself climbed a bit higher. This was the view from our pizzeria table.

13 the view from coffee in san marino

. . . and then a little higher at the cafe near the top. That’s Rimini and the Adriatic.

15 candace relaxes in san marino

Candace Evans, director of Figaro, relaxes as we wait for the audience to arrive.

18 san marino mad scene

The mad scene. The president of San Marino and his wife were seated directly behind the maestro. I would have to say this was probably the most magical evening of the trip.

19 the venue in pesaro

The next day, we took Lucia to Pesaro, a beach resort town south of Rimini. The stage was in a castle. Which had a moat. An empty moat, but a moat nonetheless.

20 the backstage facilities in Pesaro

Being a castle, they were short on amenities. Here is the backstage toilet. The only backstage toilet. There were two portajohns for the audience out front.

21 the piazza in pesaro

On the dinner break, we took a walk — here’s the telecommunication building on the main piazza.

22 the lobster house in pesaro

This fantastic Art Nouveau house was near the beach. Note the lobster brackets holding up the eaves.

23 the tech staff eats in pesaro

And the tech staff all managed to accidentally convene at a cafe on the beach for dinner.

24 focus in pesaro

Back at the castle for focus. There were six 10″ (or so) PCs on the FOH truss, and 10 PAR 64s on the castle wall. All were too large for my cuts of color, and the staff had no frames. We did Lucia in white light that night.

25 the board in pesaro

The board du jour, a sister to the board in Novefeltria. The technicians were very reluctant to redo the soft patch so I could run it reasonably as a two scene preset — they wanted me to run it via submasters. I convinced them, eventually. It was very lucky we brought a rug we didn’t need, as the fire marshal brigade in attendance wouldn’t have allowed the board’s cords to be run to a position where the stage was visible from the board without something to cover them.

27 the hookup du jour in pesaro

The hookup du jour.

26 all set up in pesaro

The audience filters in as staging rehearsal takes place. We discovered that curtain times were very, very malleable.

28 wall washers in pesaro

We may not have had color on stage, but there were several kick-ass LED wall washers that were controlled through the board, so at least I got to change the color of the courtyard as the show progressed.