Jonathan's Buxton Diary

To thy new lover, turn thee!

2006-06-27T06:48:00.000+01:00

I'm leaving blogger. I have a brand new Buxton diary on my own webspace -- come read me over there! Here is the link. I've imported all of my archives, so once your links are updated, it'll be as good good as ever. As good, yet infinitely more so!

Of Arcadee!

2006-06-23T22:23:00.000+01:00

I haven't been writing in here much, but Buxton Season is now only a few weeks away. So I'll be doing daily updates and lots of reviews once again, before too long. In the meantime, just a couple of pieces of G&S news in my life:

(1) I had my first paying gig last week. A couple in Cambridge, MA was celebrating a wedding anniversary, and wanted a G&S concert performance. A group of us came together and sang a couple of sets. It was good fun, and they gave me money for it! Singing for cash is a good thing -- there should be more opportunities like that.

(2) I've been cast as Strephon in the Young Artistes Iolanthe at the Festival, August 13. That's two romantic leads in one festival for this baritone!

(3) This blog URL may change soon. Watch this space.

To an island fair

2006-05-18T22:48:00.000+01:00

I just bought my tickets to Mancester. It's feeling more and more real -- I can't wait! I've gotten my official invitation to the Young Ambassadors, and I've accepted, and I'm hard at work studying Robin Oakapple (with blocking in hand), and it's just two and a half months away now!

Buxton!

Poor little man

2006-05-06T06:09:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to update here for a while, but I haven't had the time. A few things I've been meaning to mention:

My Pirates at Brown was a cool experience.
I saw Yeomen at Harvard, and thought it was excellent. The tenor was the second-best Fairfax I'd ever seen, second only to the professional and sublime Nick Sales. I thought the staging was really superb, too.
I saw Patience at MIT, re-set in a contemporary American high school. The concept actually worked pretty well; they left the libretto pretty close to alone, which was nice.
I organized and hosted a sing-in; some 60 people came from around the country. It was awesome.
I've been officially invited back to Buxton as a Young Ambassador. I'm still waiting to see how much the trip would cost me, but I think I'm probably going to do it. I'm definitely going to the Festival, because I was cast in the Savoynet show; what's at issue is whether I'll stay for the whole festival again or not. I won't be able to stay with a local family again.
I'm giving a recital tomorrow. First one ever. Tonight, by now, I guess. Mozart, Britten, Poulenc, Sullivan.

That's it for now.

There is Some Truth in That

2006-03-21T02:31:00.000Z

Pirates is over. A good experience, on the whole. Things were a little rocky during late rehearsals, and there was a time when I was concerned and discouraged, but everything turned out ok, and I felt good about my performances, on the whole. A bit of the Brown Daily Herald review:

Although the operetta's plot ended suddenly and a little confusingly, the musical and comedic performances by all the cast members made up for this minor flaw. In particular, the male leads, Jonathan Ichikawa GS and Alexander Ebin '07, displayed their wondrous singing and acting abilities as the Pirate King and Frederic, respectively. Ichikawa's deeper, more resonating voice complemented Ebin's clear tenor.

I feel like in this production, I took some steps toward connecting my on-stage performances with the things I'm doing in my voice lessons. I identified one of my problems, which is always an important step: I like to be very intense and focused on stage -- one of the ways this happens is by literally tensing up various muscles in my body. This past weekend, I learned that an important step for me is to maintain that physical intensity on stage, consistent with relaxing my body in the way my best singing requires. I have a long way to go, but I think I know where to be focusing now. For as long as I've been taking voice lessons, there's been a disconnect between what I can do in the studio and what I can do while I'm acting, and now I'm starting to close it. That's exciting.

Now that Pirates is over, I can devote myself further to learning Robin! Director Robert sent me a number of thoughts a few days ago -- it's time to start working on that.

Magnanimity

2006-03-18T20:47:00.000Z

Two performances of Pirates are now down -- we openned last night, and we had a matinee today. We have an evening show tonight, and then another matinee tomorrow, which is also our 'gag show'. It's gone rather well. I'm sorry to say that my voice was feeling a little tired, if healthy, this afternoon, and I wasn't vocally quite where I'd want to be. Last night had a smaller 'but' in its 'all but perfection'.

It's funny, when I'm just practicing singing by myself, it's easy for me to get enough breath for the long musical lines. In practice, I can always sing "Although our dark career sometimes involves the crime of stealing" in one breath. But something goes different when I get on stage. I'm getting over-excited or something, I guess. My acting has been just fine. But this show is giving me some good opportunities to practice increased vocal technique on stage. Hitherto, there's been an odd gap between my voice lessons and my performances.

I know a youth

2006-03-16T16:13:00.000Z

Savoynet cast has finally been announced. I'm playing Robin Oakapple! Yeah!

Also, Pirates opens tomorrow at Brown.

Very strange proceedings

2006-03-02T04:55:00.000Z

A few updates:

(1) No word yet on Buxton, either from the Young Artistes people or Savoynet casting. I still think I'm going this year, but I'm definitely looking forward to confirmation.

(2) Pirates is coming along apace. The Pirate King is a fun role, and a nice change for me. It's been a good long while since I've done a non-patter role. Fun factoid: I can now sing the optional high G at the end of the Pirate King song!

(3) My sing-in is really coming together. I'm very excited about it. Can you come to Providence April 29? Information is here.

(4) My troll is back! I have it on no less an authority than "Anonymous" that many people at Buxton laugh at me behind my back or roll their eyes and say "Oh, HIM" when my name is mentioned. Also, allegedly, I think that so many people adore me, but I do so erroneously.

Marvelous Illusion

2006-02-06T14:17:00.000Z

One more thing I forgot to mention: Emily discovered a funny thing. If you do a google image search for my name, the first hit to come up is a picture of G&S! Craziness!

Winter, rest

2006-02-06T06:45:00.000Z

Several things to report:

1. Pirates rehearsals have started! Fun.

2. My sing-in is on! April 29, Providence. You should come! More information soon.

3. My Ruddigore audition is submitted. Emily and I experienced every technical issue imaginable, but I finally got it in, just in time. Don received confirmation, so now all I have to do is wait.

4. I read in the new Festival newsletter that there are in fact Young Ambassadors events scheduled. So either I'll be invited back (hopefully soon!) or I'm to be replaced. With no indications of the latter, I'm optimistic.

5. I also read that the Young Artistes production is Iolanthe. The Festival production is Yeomen. I know it'd be a very long shot, but I'm thinking about trying for Jack Point...

Paragraphs got into all the papers

2006-01-09T15:01:00.000Z

The new NEGASS Trumpet Bray is out (PDF), and it includes two reviews of the Brown Iolanthe. Here they are!

Mercury Major:

Great IOLANTHE at Brown University

The Brown University Gilbert and Sullivan Society (BUGS), in its second staged production, has already reached a level of performance excellence equal to MITG&SP or Harvard/Radcliffe.

True, they lack money, so instead of a set, there was a large movie screen. During the overture a witty PowerPoint presentation showed the cast and their characters, and during each act it showed a nice backdrop— supplemented at appropriate times with useful (and funny!) information and commentary.

The costumes were as traditional as funds allowed. Evidently those didn’t run to capes and coronets, so the Peers were clad—surprisingly effectively—in dark suits with lace cravats and a crest on the pocket (a different crest for each peer). The fairies wore an eclectic assortment ranging in time from Ancient Greek and Egyptian through Hippie to funky contemporary—but all with wings. Again, it worked. Both male & female choruses were outstanding, in both singing and acting!

The Fairy Queen, Claire Coiro, had the best costume, a beautifully tailored long black dress with wide bell-like upper sleeves and multicolored lower sleeves and underskirt. She was tall and queenly, and though her waist was slender her presence was massive. Her singing voice was untrained, and therefore much quieter than her speaking voice, which was splendid. When she learns to sing with support and resonance, she will be a treasure to any Savoyard group!

The only inadequate costume was Private Willis’s; his tunic was the wrong type and looked unfinished, and his shako was just a cloth tube—but the actor, Jordan Elkind, compensated for it with his proud bearing and tall, soldierly figure. He did earn my wrath by changing the final notes of his “accept this friendship all the same” cadenza to a contemporary pop-music ending, TOTALLY unsuited to the harmony following in “this sacrifice to thy dear name.”

The lack of classical training was evident in many of the voices, but all were pleasant and tuneful. Iolanthe, Leila Chakravarty, had some trouble with “He loves”…until the “withered flowers” climax, which soared into glory! Her “My doom” section was strong and good, too.

Michelle Menard, the Phyllis, had a gorgeous professional-quality voice, and did a terrific long angry cadenza just before “Oh shameless one, tremble”. She and Strephon were a delightful couple. He looked much like Sam Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings movies, in both costume and figure (though not hobbit-sized, of course). He was sometimes hoarse, but otherwise very good: his “chorused Nature” speech was especially excellent. The Lord Chancellor, Charles Shrader, was a very fine singer and actor too. The lead Fairies (Jessica Marquardt, Maggie Machaiek, and Lana Zaman) and Peers (Stephen Higa and Jackson Hoy Loper) were all energetic, engaging and funny.

The music direction by Sam Baltimore was sprightly, though instruments and singers sometimes got out of sync, and the stage direction by Jonathan Ichikawa was excellent, with effective blocking and many imaginative touches. During “In vain to us you plead,” the fairies magically stuck one shoe of each peer to the ground on the first “don’t go”—which bothered me at first, because then why keep repeating it? But at “We’ll go!” each peer escaped by slipping out of the stuck shoe and exiting oneshoed. The fairies then snatched up the abandoned shoes and clutched them lovingly. Sweet and funny!

Strephon had a pet sheep which was a recurring prop. He addressed his soliloquies to it, sobbed into its fur at “Oh mother, weep with me,” and used it to demonstrate to the lords how Iolanthe mothered him. At “your Strephon might have died,” he turned it legsup, and put the “dead” sheep/baby Strephon into the arms of the Lord Chancellor, who wept over it. Then Lord Mountararat (Hoy Loper), in his “But as she’s not” solo, took it from the Chancellor and tossed it over his shoulder back to Strephon. The combination of his supremely aristocratic contempt and the high arc of the flying sheep was indescribably funny.

Another clever touch was that the fairies all had filmy scarves that rendered them invisible when pulled across their faces. Strephon had the same type of scarf over his wings. When Phyllis in Act 2 said “there’s nothing to show it,” he pulled the scarf off, and she suddenly saw his wings and reacted to them, opening and closing them and seeming utterly charmed. Just as I was by this performance. Well done, BUGS!

Peter and Linda Silverstein:

Hurrah for BUGS – Brown University Gilbert & Sullivan- now celebrating its second season! It is wonderful that younger generations continue to “inherit” an appreciation for the works of G&S and it is gratifying to witness a college student performer declaring that “All we want to do is bring G&S to the people.”

We went to Providence to see the BUGS Fall production of IOLANTHE at the List Art Center on the Brown campus. Admission was free! It became apparent that the majority of the audience at this performance was composed of the families and friends of those involved in the show with a smattering of true G&S fans. It was also clear that BUGS, by its own admission, is an organization in need of additional funding and support -- as evidenced by its small-lecture-hall venue with a non-moveable podium, white-boards, the lack of a legitimate set, and the orchestra crammed into a corner. But what the group lacked in cash, space, and materiel it made up for in ingenuity. No scenery? Not a problem. Simply project a PowerPoint presentation with slides of Arcadia and Parliament. This ploy was actually quite clever and was also used to explain the plot and the characters to a largely non-Savoyard audience. Act II, for example, began with a very cute explanation of the differences between peers and fairies.

In short, BUGS shows great promise and should be headed for better stages. C’mon guys, you can charge for admission! BUGS will be producing PIRATES in the spring, and I encourage NEGASSers to head to Providence (where there are also lots of great restaurants) and check it out.

It displays a lot of stocking

2005-12-18T02:57:00.000Z

Not really, but it's funny.

I'm the webmaster for Brown University Gilbert & Sullivan, and I've just made a site. It's probably still buggy, and it's definitely still thin on content, but it's up now. Check it out, if you like.

Ha ha!

2005-12-16T06:37:00.000Z

Savoynet is doing Ruddigore! August 8.

This is very, very exciting. Auditions, I assume, will occur in the next month or two.

It's my bedtime, now -- I expect to dream about playing Robin Oakapple.

Everything is interesting

2005-12-10T16:08:00.000Z

I've been meaning to write in here several times in the past few weeks -- I've just been too busy, I'm afraid. I meant to write some detailed thoughts about the Iolanthe I directed at Brown, and about attending and performing at AppleFest in New York, and a detailed review of the VLOG Yeomen, and some thoughts on the MIT Mikado, and my thoughts about auditioning for Pirates at Brown, but I've done none of those things. So here's the very quick version:

Iolanthe went very well. I loved that cast. It came together more last-minute than I'd've liked, but it really did end up being a high-quality product. We did some clever things with a pretty inconvenient venue, including some fun Powerpoint background stuff. Maybe sometime soon I'll type up a list of some of the particular things I enjoyed about that Iolanthe, but I don't have the time now. (This post is coming during a quick break from writing a term paper.)

AppleFest was a fun time. I came back exhausted, but I really enjoyed spending some time with old friends and making some new ones, and doing some singing, too. It had been a while since I'd done any performing of any kind. Buxton, I think, had been the last time I'd sung for an audience. Friday night there was a Pirates sing-through. The crowd was a little thin, so the choruses could have used some filling out, but it was still a fun evening. Samuel had to leave half-way through, and Sam asked me to take his place, so I sang the distribution of pirate tools. It was fun.

Saturday afternoon we had a long rehearsal for the Saturday night concert, and then Saturday night we had the Saturday night concert. Lots of people were coming together from all over to sing lots of stuff, and only some of them made it to the rehearsal. Blue Hill was auditioning that day, so many of them were unable to come until later. Indeed, some of them showed up at the theater as we were walking onto the stage! So it was a partially improvosational concert, but I thought it went quite well. I sang in all the choruses, and I also sang the Bunthorne/Jane duet (on zero rehearsal with that Jane!). I was just slightly distressed to see that my other solo was the last solo of the evening, immediately following the sublime Richard Holmes's "Time was when love and I...", which was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. But my song was sufficiently contrasting as to make things acceptable. I'd written a new "Little List" song. Here it is:

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list — I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!
There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs —
All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs —
All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat —
All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that —
And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist —
They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

There's the tenor who enthuses with his GARISH FORTE TONE!!!! [Very loudly, on a high note]
He never will desist! — I've got him on the list!
And the minor lead who points out every flaw except her own
She never would be missed! I've got her on the list!
There's the overzealous chorister with rubber for a face [here, make an exaggeratedly enthusiastic facial expression]
And the patter man who's sure that down and center is his place
And the lady who does musicals, and recently she's felt
That the problem with light op'ra is, we sing instead of BELT!
And that singular anomaly, the diva solipsist--
I don't think she'd be missed — I'm sure she'd not he missed!

And the one who treats "ensnarl" and "general" as if they rhyme
The amateur parodist -- his rhyming and his scansion are bad!
The conductor and the pianist who can't keep up the time [here, Clive drags terribly]--
[To him:] Stay with the soloist, or I'll put you on the list!
And the internet savoyards of a compromising kind,
Such as — What d'ye call him — Thing'em-BLOG, and SAVOYNE...ever-mind,
And tut-tut-tut and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who —
The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.
But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list,
For they'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

Sunday afternoon I went to see the VLOG Yeomen, which I thought was pretty good. I'd written some notes for a detailed review, but I seem to have lost them. If I have time later, I may try to say some more specific things. And Sunday evening was an Iolanthe sing-through, where I got to sing one of my favorite roles, Strephon.

Whew, ok, that's the quick version of AppleFest.

Next: the MIT Mikado. I went to go see it last night. Unfortunately, I'd gotten myself mixed up, as the closing show was yesterday afternoon. So I missed it, which I'm still sort of beating myself up about. My best friend Emily was directing and music directing. I helped them with their set strike, then availed myself of their cast party. I'm tired today.

Last week I auditioned for Pirates at Brown. I'd been debating whether I'd rather do the Pirate King or the Major-General, and decided I'd rather do the Pirate King. I really enjoyed the Major-General in August, but that was awfully recent (indeed, that was the most recent show I've performed in). And I don't know that the role would give me a lot of chance for improvement just now -- I don't know that my skills have developed in a way that would make my Major-General in March much better than my Major-General in August was. The Pirate King, on the other hand, gives me some cool opportunities for development and improvement of some skills. Vocally, it's a more interesting role for me right now, and of course the acting would just be a lot of fun. I did the role once, long ago -- 1998, I think. My second G&S role ever, at the ripe old age of 16. Sam (Iolanthe music director) and I were the only two called back for both of those roles, so we knew we'd each get one. I'd've been perfectly happy to do either, but I was very happy this morning to read that I'd gotten the Pirate King. That will be fun.

Ok, back to work. Yes, philosophers may sing, but this philosopher/singiner must philosophize. More eventually.

Ever singing, ever dancing

2005-11-18T05:22:00.000Z

My Iolanthe at Brown opens tomorrow night. We've been working very hard, and it's a really fun show. I love my cast. Wish us broken legs.

If you're in striking distance of Providence, come!

Dainty little fairies!

2005-10-29T20:16:00.000+01:00

I've been so busy this semester that I haven't really had time to blog about my experience directing the BUGS Iolanthe, but I just wanted to drop in a quick entry about how much fun this group is. We have a lot of really talented and enthusiastic young performers, and I expect our production to be a hit. We're behind schedule on blocking, unfortunately, but with a big push in the next two weeks, we'll be ready to go. I love this group. I just blocked the opening scene with the cutest bunch of fairies in history.

Also, I'm very excited about this apparent G&S event in New York in December.

Till then!

2005-08-25T19:14:00.000+01:00

Just in case anyone is still checking in, expecting to see me posting updates here regularly, I don't plan to continue posting every day, now that my Buxton 2005 experience is complete. I'll post here when I have something to say that seems noteworthy and has to do with G&S. I'll continue to review shows and write about my projects when that comes up. I'll also post about Buxton 2006 when that time comes: hopefully I'll be posting to say that I'm on my way!

Thanks for following my trip, everyone. (Almost everyone.) It's been fun.

And how you've improved!

2005-08-23T21:56:00.000+01:00

I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat, as I had the previous morning. On Saturday, I'd felt awful in the morning and marked in rehearsals. Then I cleared up over the course of the day and felt fine, if not in quite top form, by evening. Sunday morning I felt just as bad as I had Saturday morning, and our rehearsal began at 9:30, and our orchestra call (where Andrew needed us to not-mark so he could hear balance) was at 10:30, and our show was at 2:30. I was worried.

The dress, from my point of view, did not go well. My sinuses were heavily congested, and I wasn't getting any of the upper-face resonance sensations I'm used to when I sing. I also didn't have my top range, where "top" is construed liberally to extend down to about a C. I felt very tired and had a sort of fuzzy sensation when I walked around, and I had difficulty concentrating. I had a difficult time staying with Andrew's baton for the Major-General song, and I had an extremely difficult time staying with it for "Sighing softly." I was also having difficulty supporting my voice, which resulted in lots and lots of going flat. (I was only aware of the cause, not the symptom, until Emily explained it to me over lunch.)

I left the dress rehearsal very discouraged. Barring a very dramatic change in health, there was no way I was going to put on anything close to my top performance. I had lunch with Emily in low spirits, and was sorry that my Savoynet friends would see me perform in this state. Occasionally I would make those silly little noises that singers make sometimes to see how my voice was feeling. Halfway through lunch, on perhaps my sixth silly little noise, something amazing happened. Very suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, my head was much clearer, and when I made a little falsetto whoop sound, I felt it resonate through my nasal cavity, and I even got that awesome forehead sensation. I became cautiously optimistic, and when I went back to the dressing rooms to get ready for the show, I warmed up in full voice to a G-sharp and felt just fine. My nose still needed to blown fairly often, but as long as I kept it clear, I felt close to as good as new! I don't know if my body decided ok, there's just no choice now, you MUST be healthy, or if something I ate really did the trick, or if I was just phenomenally lucky, or what, but wow, was that a close call.

The actual show was worlds better than the dress rehearsal. I felt like I actually was able to give a performance. I sang and I acted. I was actually pretty far from perfect, but I didn't do anything I'm really ashamed about. I have a hard time keeping myself breathing properly during the Major-General song; really there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do each half-verse in one breath, but I only manage a good enough breath something like half the time. I did about as well as average for me in performance on that score -- I did have to drop a minor word in one verse for a breath. I think, but I'm not sure, that it was the "I" in "I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus". If I'm going to drop a syllable, I think that's an ok syllable to drop.

I got myself onto the wrong side of the stage near the end of "Sighing softly", which was unfortunate because it does affect the chorus, but they followed me around effectively, and I don't think anything would've been apparently wrong to the audience. The song itself, the hardest thing I had to sing that day, went ok. When I reviewed the video, I saw that I was trying to rush just a little bit at the beginning of it for the first couple of lines, but I settled in pretty well after that.

It's probably obvious from my blog that I take accuracy of spoken dialogue rather seriously. The Major-General doesn't have many spoken lines, but he does have a couple that I do have a hard time keeping straight. It's this scene, with the tough parts emphasized:

GENERAL: Why do I sit here? To escape from the pirates' clutches, I described myself as an orphan; and, heaven help me, I am no orphan! I come here to humble myself before the tombs of my ancestors, and to implore their pardon for having brought dishonour on the family escutcheon.
FREDERIC: But you forget, sir, you only bought the property a year ago, and the stucco on your baronial castle is scarcely dry.
GENERAL: Frederic, in this chapel are ancestors: you cannot deny that. With the estate, I bought the chapel and its contents. I don't know whose ancestors they were, but I know whose ancestors they are, and I shudder to think that their descendant by purchase (if I may so describe myself) should have brought disgrace upon what, I have no doubt, was an unstained escutcheon.

Much of the challenge is keeping the dishonour and disgrace straight. My mnemonic was that saying "humble" in the first line is my cue to say "dishonour" shortly thereafter; they're both 'h' words. And then I have to keep in mind that I've already said "dishonour", and that therefore "disgrace" is next. A secondary problem is that when I learned this dialogue on my own before I came here, I added an imaginary 'n' to the word "escutcheon" without realizing it. So I came in talking about "escuntcheons". So in addition to working to keep dishonour and disgrace straight, I had to remember that there's no 'n' in that part of that word. This on top of acting, of course.

I'm happy to say that I did manage to put the dishonour and disgrace in the right place, but in my relief at saying "disgrace" properly, I forgot to worry about the second consideration, and I did put a tiny 'n' into "escuntcheon". It was not an emphasized word in the sentence, though, and I got it right the first time, so I think it's quite believable that no one who wasn't looking for me to make that particular mistake would've noticed. I can only barely hear it on the DVD.

Other general observations about my performance: I'm generally pretty happy with my facial expressions. I only judge my stage presence as ok, though. There's a bit more extraneous movement than would be ideal. It's worlds better than the sort of flailing about I always did a year or two ago, but there's still room for improvement, which for me comes chiefly from confidence and comfort with what exactly I'm doing on stage. I'm amazed how much my voice improved between the morning and the afternoon. I didn't sound perfect and amazing, but it's not a vocal performance I'm at all embarrassed by.

The show as a whole came together quite nicely, I think. Energy came up quite a lot when we were put in front of an audience. (Bigger than we'd been lead to believe, and pretty responsive. Not full, but not depressingly small.) I think that Justin did amazingly in being fit into this production in just three days. He seemed very comfortable with the role. Sharae was just great, as expected. It's always a joy and honor to work on stage with John, who was a very strong -- and very funny -- Pirate King. The audience loved our "chorus" of police, comprising two strong singers, a baritone and a bass, and one small child, Andrew and Christine's son. Some really cute stuff going on there.

On the whole, I think we can be proud of ourselves. The schedule we work with is so short that these things must necessarily come together rather last-minute-ly, and come together our Pirates did. David Turner gave comments on each of the principals, and on the chorus, but not on the production on the whole. He was very kind to all of us. Maybe I'll type up what he said about me later.

For now, I have to shut down my computer, because my battery is almost dead and I'm flying over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where there are no power outlets.

A wonderful joy our eyes to bless

2005-08-23T21:34:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all the comments on the last post, and for the people who've emailed me privately with their thoughts. I'm terribly sorry to have upset people, but I don't know that I feel as if I've done anything that I shouldn't have. The only resolution for change I've made thus far is: be even more careful not to be misinterpretable.

One comment I did want to respond specifically to, because I found it interesting, was Martin's:

I frequently get vibes that Jonathan views that there is only 'one true' way to do G&S - and that all other attemps just don't come up to his expectations.

It's surprising to me that Martin places me in the "one right way to do it" camp; I generally think of myself as an appreciator of intelligent innovation. Trent provides two good examples in recent memory: I liked the new setting and new take on Princess Ida this year, and I loved Simon Theobald's performance as Jack Point last year, even though I disagreed with much of the interpretation. I don't like every concept and alternate interpretation I see, because many of them aren't sufficiently thought through. But I'm certainly not opposed to them in principle. (And Martin, I loved your Pooh-Bah last year.) I absolutely agree with Martin when he says:

I prefer to be in the 'creative' arts, and am admittedly not interested in 're-creating' anything, G&S or otherwise.

I'm at Gatwick airport now, waiting for my flight back to the U.S. This means I finally have a bit of time to write a couple of things I've been promising for a while, starting with a review of the professional Ruddigore, which I saw Saturday night. I loved the production; I think it's hard to imagine a show that is better suited to the particular performers in the G&S Opera Company. (Running through the canon and casting the principals in my head, Yeomen is the only other one that makes me raise my eyebrows and say "oooh".) I thought that almost all of the central roles -- Robin, Dick Dauntless, Despard, Hannah, Roderic, and Mad Margaret -- were really cast with the absolutely ideal performers. Rose is missing from this list, not because she wasn't good, which she was, but because I don't think she's the best Rose I can imagine. It's too bad she had to follow Charlotte Page, who was the best Rose I can imagine.

I spoke a bit with Simon and a few others in the professional company after the show, and the general impression seemed to be that it wasn't as crisp as they'd've liked; things had gone wrong, and it sounded from the inside like it was one of those nights where one is just thankful to have been able to hold everything together. This wasn't hard to believe -- I did notice mistakes, including even one or two from my hero Simon, but it was in every respect a professional production, and someone less familiar with the show wouldn't have noticed anything wrong at all.

I smiled almost the entire show, beginning with the opening chorus. How exciting it is to see a professional chorus in action! There's really nothing like it at the amateur level. The very best principal performers in excellent amateur productions sometimes approach the quality of professional principals, but one never sees and hears such involved choreographed precision, musical sensitivity, and vocal power, in an amateur chorus. I didn't love the opening choreography -- I thought it was a little more "sign-language-y" than I prefer -- but it was so wonderful to see the precise, deliberate, and coordinated movement that I didn't mind a bit. The bridesmaids did a very nice job with that classic challenge of displaying boredom without being boring. A few village men going about their business unobtrusively in the background added a nice touch of realism.

The chorus of bridesmaids was also full of beautiful young women.

Jill Pert as Dame Hannah was at once kindly and commanding. She delivered the first verse of her song sitting down left in her rocking chair and had no difficulty commanding the stage from that position. (The chorus helps here, of course.) A glorious, powerful voice, too. Like I said above, I think she was perfect for the part.

Mary Hegarty's Rose Maybud was beautifully sung and comfortable on stage. But I didn't quite feel that Rose was her role the way I felt about the other principals, or indeed about Charlotte last year. Her spoken voice was deeper, more worldly. I think she'd make a phenomenal Josephine, but she was only a very good Rose. There were a couple of points where I felt as if she wasn't quite sure what Rose was thinking. The most obvious example was at the beginning of Act II, where she sang:

While you'll be asserting
Your freedom by flirting
With every woman you meet,
You cheat--Ah!
With every woman you meet! Ah!
FOR I am such a smart little craft, etc.

The "for" should be a "though", and the sentence doesn't make sense the way she sang it -- he'll cheat on her because she's so great? No, he'll cheat on her even though she's so great. Her acting matched what she sang. The chorus sang the correct word when they repeated her.

I did think that Rose's acting in her Act I duet with Robin was delightful. I loved that scene.

And speaking of Robin, Simon Butteriss did not disappoint. He's a phenomenal performer, and I really do think that Robin must be one of his very best roles. (I've only seen a few -- I've seen him do Ko-Ko, Sir Joseph, and Robin twice, so it's just possible that he might be even more brilliant in other roles, but Robin seems awfully perfect for him to me.) Robin's an interesting character, even before his dramatic interval transformation, and Simon is flawless at turning his dual nature into depth, instead of inconsistency. I'm thinking especially of the "My boy you may take it from me" scene.

I also loved the way that he communicated the ridiculous plot exposition to the audience in their first scene. I think you can tell a lot about an actor by the way he handles this sort of pure exposition. Here's the line I'm thinking of:

Hush! As you love me, breathe not that hated name. Twenty years ago, in horror at the prospect of inheriting that hideous title, and with it the ban that compels all who succeed to the baronetcy to commit at least one deadly crime per day, for life, I fled my home, and concealed myself in this innocent village under the name of Robin Oakapple. My younger brother, Despard, believing me to be dead, succeeded to the title and its attendant curse. For twenty years I have been dead and buried. Don't dig me up now.

Simon did the two absolutely necessary things, plus the nice bonus: he effectively communicated the important information, he wasn't boring, and he effectively communicated the bit of ironic exposition meta-humor without breaking character. It was awesome.

Simon included "Henceforth all the crimes," which is a song I like quite a lot. He took it at a very fast clip, which is no surprise from Simon. I do think, though, that the recit. before it benefits from being sung more or less in time. Each phrase -- away, remose; compunction, hence; go, moral force; go, penitence -- is written with a different rhythmic pattern. I think it's interesting and worthwhile to preserve that element of Sullivan's writing. (This is something I learned last spring when the M.D. for the Rice Patience insisted, quite rightly, that I observe the written rhythms in the recit. before Bunthorne's solo.)

Simon sang one word different from the version I know: "Propriety I wring THY knell." My Schirmer score says "YOUR knell." Schirmer sometimes gets things wrong, though; any suggestions as to where I can double-check this?

Oliver White's entrance as Dick Dauntless was exciting and fun. He looks the part exactly: tall, blonde, dashing, with just the right swagger, including the bit of hair that falls over his forehead. And he moves very well, and I just loved his command of the dialect. Great voice too, obviously. He was loads of fun.

I decided that night what should have been obvious much earlier: G&S benefits dramatically from good and interesting choreography. I need to learn to dance, and I need to learn to choreograph.

I thought the dialogue leading up to "In sailing o'er life's ocean wide" was phenomenal. It was a wonderful scene. The trio itself was excellent too, although it did include one of the few moments of musical imprecision I noticed the whole night. The three performers were not all together with the ending consonants in "a heart, a heart". One of the drawbacks of such a short rehearsal, I guess -- it's phenomenal that they're so clean as much of the time as they are!

Victoria Byron's performance of Mad Margaret had drama and humor and excitement and a wonderfully clear and strong mezzo. The "I once was a very abandoned person" scene with Despard is tricky, I think. It reads very well on paper, but it can be difficult to be put effectively on stage; it's basically a one-joke affair, and the danger is that it will get old. It didn't even get close to getting old in this production.

There was a nice joke in that scene which seems pretty obvious, now that I've seen it, but I don't recall ever noticing it before. Margaret says

Master, when I think of all you have done for me, I fall at your feet. I embrace your ankles. I hug your knees!

A joke was made of the implied imminent continuation of the apparent progression.

Speaking of Despard, I remember being disappointed in Bruce Graham's acting in the role last year. I don't know whether he's improved or my preferences have changed, but I thought that he was a delight to watch. There was a delightful understated melodrama to his Act I entrance. I loved it. And of course his voice is amazing. I do think that he was suffering vocal fatigue by that point, though -- either that or he really does not have the low range that Despard needs. His large, sonorous voice did not have its customary resonance on the bottom notes of the Act II duet.

At the end of his Act I entrance, Despard scared off the various villagers with a rose -- not a traditionally threatening implement. I love the flower imagery that runs throughout Ruddigore, and I'm very tempted to suppose that this particular flower, like so many in the libretto, teemed with hidden meaning. I haven't been able to figure out just what that hidden meaning is yet, but I'm still thinking about it.

(Self-involved aside: I have only a little experience directing, and only moderate interest in doing more. But I do aspire to direct a production of Ruddigore. Preferably after I've discharged my aspiration to play Robin.)

I loved Robin and Adam's (Michael Rayner's) entrance in Act II. The costume and attitude change was phenomenal. And both of them nailed that E-flat or whatever the note lands on for "de-sham".

I have never heard an audience laugh at this line from Rose:

Prove that this was no selfish love by according your consent to my marriage with one who, if he be not you yourself, is the next best thing--your dearest friend!

I think it's a very funny line, and that it was delivered perfectly well by Mary. I wish it'd gotten a laugh.

Roderic's entrance was convincingly and frightfully done, and Donald Maxwell's performance was imposing and strong. There's a hell of a voice on that one, and his figure was suitably threatening. His costume and make-up reminded me of Cervantes, one of the characters I learned to play this summer in Soul Caliber II.

I have to remark that Simon is a very effective collapser. As some of you know, I have a new appreciation for this particular talent, and Simon had to do it several times over the evening. Well done.

Some people say that "There grew a little flower" does not fit well into Ruddigore. They tend to say things like: it's a nice song, and I like listening to it, but it just slows down the end of Act II too much. I find this very difficult to understand. I think that any time you have even half-decent performers as Hannah and Roderic, listening to the Hannah's lyrics can give chills. It's a beautiful, beautiful song, and it's thematically important, and it's important for the characters. (A bit of restored dialogue afterward is probably a good idea, too.)

The company added one new line (someone correct me if this is traditional and/or Gilbert's): after Rose leaves Richard for Robin (again) at the end of Act II, Richard says, "Well, I think it's exceedingly unfair." He looks forlorn for a couple of seconds, then brightens up with an idea and adds: "Where's that other girl?" and finds Zorah. I loved it.

I don't usually like the odd rhythms written in the "Basingstoke" version of the finale. We sang them in the MIT production that I did in 2003, and they just seemed so awkward. I learned from this production, though, that they can be perfectly effective if they're taken at a quick tempo. They just sound interesting instead of weird.

It was a phenomenal production, and I'm glad that the Smith's decided to bring it back. I think that it was quite a lot better than the Sorcerer from the previous weekend.

Back safe in Houston now. Coming soon: a more detailed account of my Pirates Sunday.

Allow me to explain

2005-08-22T14:13:00.000+01:00

I've obviously struck at least a couple of people the wrong way in my reviews. One anonymous commenter in particular seems to been so offended that he (or she) has taken to scanning my archives to find insulting things to say.

Let me just spell out a couple of things that I'd hoped would've been clear to readers, but maybe weren't.

I love Gilbert & Sullivan, and I love watching G&S performances. That's one of my favorite things about the festivals.

When I review shows, I identify both things that I do like and things that I do not like. The fact that there are things that I do not like does not mean that I do not have great respect for the shows and the performers.

This is my diary, and I write about my experiences, and express my opinions, and focus on the performances I'm in, with a special emphasis on myself. I make no apologies for this. I don't think I'm more worthy of being talked about than other people, it's just that this is my diary, so of course I write about me.

As a performer, I value sincere constructive criticism very highly, and I would welcome anyone to give candid appraisals of any of my work, the way that I have given candid appraisals of the performances I write about here.

In light of various reactions to things I've written here, I am rethinking my approach to reviewing shows. I don't mean to come across as negative, and I certainly don't mean to come across as "a pompous, self-aggrandizing ass, quick to pick up on the faults of others yet unable to recognise your own." If that's the way I've been coming across to a substantial number of readers, then I ought to make a change in the way I handle things. I do expect that I will probably be back in Buxton in 2006, if I can save enough money. That leaves me plenty of time to decide how I want to handle this blog.

I invite suggestions.

(Still to come for Buxton 2005: a review of the professional Ruddigore and a more detailed account of the Young Artistes Pirates.)

See my way to a successful result

2005-08-21T18:33:00.000+01:00

Updates:

Pirates went well -- better than I'd thought it would. I was not feeling at all well for the dress rehearsal, and my voice was only partially there, but I felt pretty 'on' for the performance, which seemed to be well-received. I only know of a couple of things I wish I'd done better -- a minor word flub in the Major-General song, an added "n" in "escutcheon," and a failure to move back to stage right at the appropriate time during "Sighing softly." All told, I'm reasonably happy with myself, although of course that may change when I see the video.

I'm very tired now.

The awards ceremony occurred. Savoynet received nominations for ten of the eighteen awards for which it was eligible, and won three of them.

Winners:
Best Character Actor: Ron, Lord Chancellor
Best Concerted Item: March of the Peers
Second Runner-Up: Best Show

Other Nominees:
Best Costumes
Most Animated Chorus
Best Male Voice: Gary, Strephon
Best Supporting Actor: Ian, Mountararat
Best Chorus
Best Music Director
Best Director

Congratulations to all the people who worked on Iolanthe, and especially to Ron for his award.

We took third place overall. Second was South Anglia's Mikado and first was Derby's Sorcerer. In my opinion, Blue Hill did not get its due.

More to follow eventually, including a review of the professional Ruddigore. Now: dinner with Emily and general relaxing.

There's a chance I won't post more for a couple of days, as I'm traveling starting tomorrow. We'll see.

We give you to tomorrow afternoon!

2005-08-21T01:21:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling very tired tonight, and I have to get going early tomorrow for our production of Pirates. We start in the theater at 9:00, dress rehearsal starts at 10:30, and the show is at 2:30.

I loved Ruddigore and wish I had time to write a proper review. I will do so soon, but not tonight.

Part of the reason I'm tired is that I got in later than I meant to, thanks to being locked outside my host family's house when my key broke in the lock! Happily, Emily and I were rescued before I had to resort to doing my best impression of Spider-Man.

Wish me (and my voice!) luck tomorrow.

Sing me your song, oh

2005-08-20T17:24:00.000+01:00

I'm not feeling great. I marked in rehearsal today. If I'm no worse tomorrow, then I'll be ok, although it won't be fun. If I'm better, that'd be awesome. If I'm worse, there could be trouble.

I do have to sing at least a little tonight -- we're leading the audience in big choruses on the opera house stage before the show, and I'm also slated to sing Antonio in the pot luck Gondoliers. I might leave early after that, though. I'll see what Emily feels like doing -- I meet her in half an hour.

Unrelated to Buxton, Peter Zavon emailed me and pointed out that the newest edition of the Trumpet Bray is now online. (PDF here.) It includes a review by Dean Edmonds of the MIT Yeomen from May, where I played Jack Point. It's the most glowing thing I've ever read about myself, so obviously it made me feel good. Here's the part where he talks about me:

And then Jack Point (Jonathan Ichikawa) and Elsie Maynard (Colleen Dever) appeared, and this is where the show really took off. From the instant these two came on stage, the production became a scintillating masterpiece. That both have had considerable stage experience was immediately obvious, as they exhibited magnificent voices and professional acting ability. Jonathan's full and sonorous baritone made any worries about the room's acoustics disappear, and his acting rivaled that of any Jack Point I've ever seen, including that of the greatest Jack Point of all, the original D'Oyly Carte's Martyn Green. When he and Elsie came on for their famous duet, "I have a song to sing, oh," their performance was among the best renditions I can remember, and from then on, I sat up and took notice as I sort of hadn't done up until then. Jonathan's acting and dancing were outstanding, although there were one or two times when I thought his springing about the stage (at which he was a master) was just a teeny bit overdone. But his shift from broken hearted lover to professional jester in his second-act scene with Wilfred (including his rendition of one of my favorite songs, "Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon ---") was superb, and I spent a lot of time wondering how he would handle the disastrous finale.

As I have written before now, YEOMEN, which I consider to be Sullivan's real grand opera, presents a terrible problem at the end for any director. Here Jack Point, who is really the principal character in this drama, is left without a mate. If I recall correctly, this is the only G&S opera (with the exception of PATIENCE, where you're really glad there's no bride for Bunthorne) in which a major character is left so stranded. We have it on no less an authority than Katisha that "no one ever yet died of a broken heart," and I've witnessed many a director's attempt to make Point's collapse believable. Only twice have I seen it pulled off convincingly. The first time was with the consummate actor Martyn Green. The second was Jonathan's performance last Saturday. There was one added touch which helped him do it. In that last scene Elsie took off the ribbons she used to dance with when she was the merryman's maid and pressed them into Point's hands so that he could sort of crumple over them. And so once more I left the theater in tears, which is, as I've said before, the only reason why YEOMEN OF THE GUARD is not my favorite Gilbert-&-Sullivan.

I'm speechless.

In all but perfection?

2005-08-20T00:59:00.000+01:00

I had a conversation yesterday that I meant to write about, but forgot to. I was speaking with someone about how it's difficult for Americans and other non-English people to come to the Festival, and especially how it's difficult to stay for the whole thing. Money is a major factor, but for most, it's not the only one. It's hard to get that much time off of work, or to leave a family behind, or to bring a family to Buxton, especially if they don't love G&S! It was a time to be thankful that I'm a single academic. (This also connects interestingly with my latest tarot reading.)

Anyway. On to today. No review tonight, because I didn't go see Ruddigore. I'm going tomorrow. Instead, I stayed in and studied the "Medieval art" trio. I also drank about twelve glasses of water and a big cup of tea, and was feeling good as new by festival cabaret time. Oh yeah, we also sang in front of the opera house before the show today. Very good turnout, really -- Paul estimated that 200 people stood around us and listened to us sing. Maybe some of them will turn into ticket sales for Sunday. I hope so. I sang Sir Joseph's song again. The thing is actually very slightly beginning to grow on me; it was never a favorite patter song before, but I've done it three or four times this festival, and it's fun to sing, and always well-received.

Everybody raved about the Ruddigore. I can't wait to see it. I got a chance to chat for a while with Simon at the Festival Club, and of course he was his usual modest self, but he said he expects it to be better tomorrow, and I believe him. I'm very excited. I'm going to decide tomorrow night whether to purchase the DVD of the professional Ruddigore from this year, or from last year.

Our cabaret went fine, I thought. "Medieval art" came together with absolutely zero rehearsal. It would've been nice to have gotten a chance to coordinate a few movements, but it worked out ok, and we got the notes right, and, well, at least most of the words. I also sang Private Willis's song, which is a lot of fun to sing. We repeatedly plugged our production of Pirates, and maybe we'll sell some tickets as a result. One can hope.

After our performance, I spoke to a few friendly people who offered me some suggestions about Private Willis's song. One of them suggested that my accent was inappropriate, which I already knew. He said I sounded like an officer, not like a private. I've remarked here before that I have a lot of work to do, accent-wise, and it's absolutely necessary that I get that under control before I can take the next step up in G&S performance.

The other comment came from a woman who told me that I'd sung a wrong note. I love Buxton for the fact that people notice these things! Last year a gentleman pointed out a wrong note I'd sung as Lord Chancellor in a pot luck Iolanthe, and thanks to him I knew where to focus when someone made the same mistake in a concert I music directed in December. I must admit that I did not have time to go over Private Willis's song with a score before performing it tonight, but it's one that I've done several times, and I thought that I knew it pretty well, and I hadn't noticed singing a wrong note tonight, so the comment surprised me. I really hope I haven't learned something wrong. I looked over a score when I got home, but I didn't see anything that I obviously had wrong in my head. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to remember where it was that I'd gone wrong, but she said it was near the end. I didn't think to ask her whether I'd done it in both verses. If anyone reading this heard me sing Private Willis tonight and noticed a wrong note from me and remembers where it was, I'd appreciate a comment. Barring that, the only think I can think to do is to go over and note-bash the piece again.

I'm not losing sleep over it, obviously. And if I just slipped the once tonight, then life goes on. But obviously, I hope to get every note right next time the song comes up, which is why I'm taking it seriously.

Speaking of sleep, it's getting to be about that time. I have a long day of rehearsal tomorrow, then I meet Emily and go see Ruddigore. Only two more days in Buxton! Until next year, at least. (I really, really hope I'm able to get the funds together to come back again next year. I guess I probably ought to also make a point of continuing to be a single academic. =P)

Whose voice can't be gainsaid

2005-08-19T17:41:00.000+01:00

Mid-way through rehearsal today, I came to recognize a sad, if perhaps not surprising fact. My voice is starting to get tired. I've been singing quite a lot every day for three weeks now, without any problems, but I think singing "Hail, poetry" and "Sighing softly" several times a day, full-voiced, has taken its toll. I've already decided to take it easy and mark tomorrow, even if, as will hopefully be the case, I feel splendid again by then. It's not *bad* now -- I don't think it's manifest in sound yet, but there is just that little bit of tell-tale scratchiness that I've learned to take seriously.

This is compounded by the fact that taking the night off would not be a particularly easy thing to do. The Young Ambassadors are singing outside the opera house today, and I'm to do Sir Joseph's song again. (Singing out there is a special challenge, because the sound really does tend to disappear, and we have to push pretty hard. I'm going to resist that temptation tonight and sing Sir Joseph comfortably. My apologies to anyone too far away to hear.)

And we learned today that after tonight's show (the first of three showings of the professional Ruddigore), we're to sing a cabaret. I'm singing with John and Justin in "It's clear that medieval art," and I'm also singing Private Willis's song. I love Private Willis's song, but it's not one that's easy on my voice. I'll just make sure to warm up properly. And I'll have to decide whether to add in the high note that I like at the end. The problem with the Patience trio is that I've never sung it before. Fortunately, I have about five hours between now and the cabaret, and very little scheduled in between, other than finding dinner. (I'm going to see Ruddigore tomorrow, with Emily.) It's not that tricky, and I'm fairly confident I can handle it. It's odd to go on having never, ever rehearsed it before, though!

We did a full run of the show today, for the first time. I think a lot of us were tired, and energy was a little bit low, but we can see the show taking shape now. One more day of hard work tomorrow, then we go into the theater early Sunday. Best-friend-Emily arrives tomorrow evening.