Verdi Days-1

I've just started my Assistant Stage Managing with New Orleans Opera Association for Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, and I have to say that the first day of rehearsal was marvelous! It's always a pleasure to walk into rehearsal and meet wonderful singers who are excellent to be around from the get-go.

Ballo is part of a fascinating history of opera censorship. Verdi was forced to change the setting of his opera multiple times-- Sweden to Boston to Naples depending on where the opera was being produced, resulting in a few changed names. "Anckarstroem" just doesn't roll off the tongue like "Renato", does it? Today in America, censorship comes not from the government, but from the audience, or to be more precise, the few audience members who pay the most money. A progressive setting gets toned down for the sake of the pearl-clutching big donors. Even though the local arts scene is downright avant-garde, the big opera house keeps it old school. This goes back to an even bigger problem with opera and money in the US and progressive opera in the US, but that's another blog post.

I've also decided to participate in NaBloPoMo; you'll be seeing a post (or at least a sentence) from me for the rest of November.