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chicagotribune.com: Mezzo soprano Jill Grove is made up as the witch character before going on stage in "Hansel and Gretel," staged Monday, Jan.14, 2013 by Lyric Opera of Chicago at the Civic Opera House.
These pictures did a great job of capturing what really goes on backstage a large production. The costumes like the fish and chef and the props like the puppet revealed to me that operas really can be just as involved and include spectacles like regular musical theatre shows. I for some reason have always just deemed them to be very mostly focused on their music. I enjoyed seeing that the cleanup crew works much the same as we do. There is some comfort in knowing that theatre, no matter where, had the same basic principles, even when it comes to the clean up routine. The prosthetics that were shown in the first picture were also a good reminder that I'd like to explore stage makeup.
I recently took a backstage tour of the Met Opera House in NYC and I must say that these photos don't even come close to really capturing the magic of being backstage on an opera set. They are certainly excellent photos, but visiting the wigmaster and learning that they actually attend hair auctions around the world to purchase the finest hair and that every wig is sown one single hair at a time, seeing the hundreds of gigantic fake peach trees used for Don Giovanni, and standing in the lead soprano's dressing room is another experience entirely. Seeing the intricacy of the costumes up close and feeling how enormous and heavy the chef's headpieces are (at least in the met production) really gave me an idea of whats it's like to be in a no-holds-barred opera production. Having only ever been in CMU opera productions, which are not the most lavish, I have to say, that visit and these photos make me incredibly excited to join that world one day.
I knew of the Hansel and Gretel opera. I saw that the Met puts it on every Christmas. The costumes were interesting. I can definitely see the similarities between these costumes and the Met's. The Met's fish heads and chef heads were a little bigger, but of course they have the money for it. It was interesting because I believe the chefs in the Met production were depicted as giant pigs, while here we see fat chefs with a pig-like appearance, but they are definitely human. I was a little disappointed by the set photos at the Lyric Opera, though. I imagine Hansel and Gretel to be magical and child-like. This set seemed very angular and normal. I guess I have to see it with lights on it.
3 comments:
These pictures did a great job of capturing what really goes on backstage a large production. The costumes like the fish and chef and the props like the puppet revealed to me that operas really can be just as involved and include spectacles like regular musical theatre shows. I for some reason have always just deemed them to be very mostly focused on their music. I enjoyed seeing that the cleanup crew works much the same as we do. There is some comfort in knowing that theatre, no matter where, had the same basic principles, even when it comes to the clean up routine. The prosthetics that were shown in the first picture were also a good reminder that I'd like to explore stage makeup.
I recently took a backstage tour of the Met Opera House in NYC and I must say that these photos don't even come close to really capturing the magic of being backstage on an opera set. They are certainly excellent photos, but visiting the wigmaster and learning that they actually attend hair auctions around the world to purchase the finest hair and that every wig is sown one single hair at a time, seeing the hundreds of gigantic fake peach trees used for Don Giovanni, and standing in the lead soprano's dressing room is another experience entirely. Seeing the intricacy of the costumes up close and feeling how enormous and heavy the chef's headpieces are (at least in the met production) really gave me an idea of whats it's like to be in a no-holds-barred opera production. Having only ever been in CMU opera productions, which are not the most lavish, I have to say, that visit and these photos make me incredibly excited to join that world one day.
I knew of the Hansel and Gretel opera. I saw that the Met puts it on every Christmas. The costumes were interesting. I can definitely see the similarities between these costumes and the Met's. The Met's fish heads and chef heads were a little bigger, but of course they have the money for it. It was interesting because I believe the chefs in the Met production were depicted as giant pigs, while here we see fat chefs with a pig-like appearance, but they are definitely human. I was a little disappointed by the set photos at the Lyric Opera, though. I imagine Hansel and Gretel to be magical and child-like. This set seemed very angular and normal. I guess I have to see it with lights on it.
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