So, I'll start with a bit of back story, in case you're not up to date on what I'm doing right now. We at Oper Frankfurt are in our last weekend of the season, and all of us go on vacation on Monday. Excellent! I have three shows this weekend: two Fintas (in which I have the title role) and one Palestrina (in which I have a tiny role!). Tonight was a Finta. Now, I love this show. I love the cast, I love the director, I love all the musicians -- it's just been a fantastic experience. So! Tonight was our 2nd to last show, and even though it was DREADFULLY hot in the theater (we perform this show in a converted train station -- very cool place, but it's like a sauna in the summer) it was going really well! All of our complicated staging was going well, people were singing well, the energy was great - a good night! With less than 20 minutes of the opera left, the tenor (Jussi Myllys) and I had just been lifted up to the stage on a hydraulic lift for our final duet. The music starts out very calm, as if we're waking from a dream. We sing our first few phrases, and I notice that one of the supernumeraries (a non-singing, non-speaking acting role) is laughing, hidden from sight. A second later I realize what he's laughing at as I hear some sort of alarm coming from somewhere! I thought at first it was an ambulance passing by the building, since this happens quite frequently. Yet, the noise stays constant! I try to keep the smile off my face (I have a tendency to get the giggles onstage! Uh oh! :-)) and keep my cool. As the tenor is singing, it's obvious that this alarm is something nearby and is not showing signs of stopping. I thought to myself, "Perhaps a car alarm?" Finally, the conductor actually stops the orchestra, turns to the audience and addresses this noise problem. None of us knew where it was coming from! So eventually he leaves to find out more, leaving the tenor, the supernumeraries and myself onstage, not sure if we should break character or not!! Finally our stage manager tells us from offstage that we should leave the stage and go outside, because the noise was actually the fire alarm! And it wasn't a false alarm either... So we make our way offstage and leave the building. Now, another funny thing is that the tenor and I are tethered together, so we have to make every move together! We stand around for maybe 15 minutes outside, waiting for further instructions, hoping that we can continue the show. Sadly, we received news that we couldn't finish the show. However, we were told the audience was still standing in front of the theater, and so we hustled over to do a makeshift curtain call! Thankfully, they were all in high spirits and being really good sports about it all! After the whole cast and conductor had assembled in front of the applauding audience we decided to sing the final ensemble piece, which is just a short lively chorus! We didn't want to leave the audience with an unresolved story! After all, in this opera, it isn't until the very end that all the lovers finally end up with whom they belong!
So in the end, it was okay that we didn't get to finish the opera, since a very special and positive memory was created! However, I must say that I hope tomorrow's (last!) Finta performance goes on uninterrupted!!!
Here's a picture from the opening night curtain call. Most of the cast is pictured, as well as the conductor, director and the costume designer.
If you'd like to see more photos of the production, click here!
