Musical Theater with Luis Perez

I really enjoyed the Musical Theater master class with Luis Perez... and not just because the man has actually performed with Marin Mazzie in Sondgeim's "Passion", possibly my favorite musical theater piece EVER! The class focused particularly on acting, with side notes about the singing, and each time a specific "beat" or moment in the piece was isolated and highlighted, the music itself really came alive. As an audience member, it was easy to extract this information and apply it directly to opera arias and auditions. Why aren't we expected to do this detail work dramatically in opera? Probably because the singing aspect is so much more difficult and specific, but sometimes I really believe that if the dramatic intent is correct, it make the vocalism easier and more natural. Emotion sometimes begets good technique.

Personally, I felt ok about my performance. I had been sitting throughout the whole class and so hadn't made a noise for over 2 hours when I got up to sing. And still it went ok. I felt bizarre vocally, like the sound was labored in coming out, but I recorded it and it actually sounded pretty good, except for one flat note in the 1st verse and then the weird emotional thing that happened at the end of my second time through, where the notes just didn't come out at all on pitch because my throat was overwhelmed with emotion. Mr. Perez said something very true about the learning process about a piece... you have to learn the notes first, then learn the emotions and go all the way with it, forgoing the technique... and finally, you take those emotions, but have a "monitor" going on the whole time that keeps your technique in check. I think that's a good breakdown.

I'm mad at myself for still doing "opera arms". I watched my performance of Kiss Me Kate a couple of years ago and was horrified at how boring and stiff I was. So I think I overcompensated, which Mr. Perez observed, saying most people he has to beg to act, but with me he'd say "act less." I'm mad at myself because I've done so much work on my acting over the past couple of years, but I think that since I've gotten out of my head and liberated myself on stage (a credit I do give to Kiss Me Kate and David Walters, my director there with Nightblue Theater), it is not my responsibility to become more specific and controlled in my choices. Choices... that is key. That things don't just happen as a result of emotion and haphazard movements that come as a result.

So this is my goal. Don't just be a decent actress, the phenomenon of an opera singer that actually acts. I want to be a great actress, like those actresses I really admire.

More later.