spectrumnews1.com: In opera the stakes are usually high, but as the LA Opera prepares for their first in-person, fully-staged production since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, things have reached a crescendo.
Inside, outside, upstairs and downstairs, crews are working feverishly all over the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with an assembly line moving prestissimo to meet an unexpected deadline. It’s a symphony of construction sounds that is music to technical director Jeff Kleeman’s ears.
5 comments:
Theatre is a game of improvisation and problem solving. It is my favorite part of theatre, and it is what I believe they are the two skills most needed by a theatrical artist to succeed. This article is a fantastic example of that. As author Tara Lynn Wagner explains, the production company lost around 2 and a half to 5 and a half months of their time allowed to create a set. They were left with just around a week and a half. And, both unsurprisingly and surprisingly, they did it! In addition to the time constraint, this production was also being held on a cruise ship, which opens the door to a whole new list of technical complications in terms of obtaining and transporting supplies/pieces/props/etc, I say surprisingly as this is an incredibly daunting and difficult taste to accomplish, but I also challenge this is unsurprisingly, as these are creators of theatre. Having a plan falling apart and having to readjust is their job. It's what they do, and it's what I want to learn how to do.
Firstly, this article was incredibly interesting to watch. In theatre there are always hurdles to jump through, although I can’t imagine one this large. I assume that the hours go against union standards, and I would be curious to know how that operates. I wonder how Angulo redesigned the set. I would also be curious to know how the Opera decides whether it is financially better to cancel a show or build a new set and how the budgeting works on that. I was surprised that the crew was 45 people and would be interested to learn how many people are typically on a crew. I also found it interesting that they were building in the theatre itself rather than a shop and was curious if that was for time constraints or for another reason. I found the article fascinating but I think overall it left me with more questions than answers.
This was an incredible read – hats off to this team working around the clock to get this set complete in time. I can’t even begin to comprehend how this team is cramming a three- to six-month process down to just ten days. The rate at which they work must be a very delicate balance of speed, but also precision and safety. I applaud technical director Kleeman and his team for being so calm with the pressure they are working under. I am sure he is stressed, but at the same time, keeping a calm demeanor is important for such a monolithic task. He even took the time to complete this interview, despite the knowledge of such a tight deadline. It is especially hard that all of this is due to a shipping delay, especially considering that the ship has arrived and is idling just off the coast, not even twenty miles from the venue. This poses another question, though: when the ship finally makes it to port and the containers are offloaded, where will it go? I can’t imagine that they will tear down the brand new, multi-hundred-thousand dollar set. I can’t imagine the rental fee will be reimbursed, so where will the set go? Will it be loaded right back on another ship, bound for another opera house somewhere in the world? Or will it just go into storage, not to be used for who knows how long? And what about the new set being built? Will it be thrown away, or offered as another rental package?
This headline made me laugh and shake my head a bit. Of course they are shipping a set from Monaco and of course they built an entirely new one 10 days. This is the kind of stuff that reminds me how much I admire the people I work with. Everyone's job in live performance is challenging, time consuming, and requires a great deal of skill. I do my best to remember this as a manager, especially because at CMU I am surrounded by talented, capable people. It's amazing that LA Opera was able to put their heads together for such a feat, but I also believe this kind of miracle work cannot be expected out of everyone. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. We can put our heart in soul into work, but it shouldn't consume and take advantage of us either. I appreciate that the VP of artistic planning did present alternative options, even though thankfully they did not have to be put into action.
This is a feel good theater story about people making due with what they have and solving problems as they come up. On the flip side, the 45 technicians are gonna be working long hours. They specified 14 hour work days which sounds like a lot of lost personal time, but a significant amount of overtime. When they stated the price tag I was wondering about whether or not there is insurance on something like a container ship showing up on time. I’m sure there would be insurance money (not that the LA Opera would necessarily see any of it) if the container ship sank, but is there any insurance money for it being delivered significantly late? Hopefully they’ll be able to get the job done, but I’m sure this is a good experience working long hours with hopefully good coworkers to get something done. And raking in a fair amount of money at the same time.
Post a Comment