Merry 5th day of Christmas everyone! If you're wondering, Brenda did indeed give me 5 golden rings. I hope your holidays are going well and that you have exciting plans for ringing in the new year. We are planning on going to a party at a friend's house which should be a step up from last year when Brenda was sick, lying on the couch wondering if she should go to the hospital - which we eventually did.
You may have noticed that today isn't Monday, or as I like to call it, Blog day. Well, once again, Brenda and I were out last night painting the town red and I wasn't able to complete my Blog duties. If we keep up this Monday night socializing thing, I may have to rethink which day should be Blog day.
Last Wednesday, Brenda performed in La Bohème for the second time. It was another great performance that I enjoyed by way of the speakers in Brenda's dressing room. I like hanging out with Brenda during her performances. I feel kind of like her boxing coach; she comes back to her corner after each round and I give her water, massage her shoulders and bandage any wounds she may have gotten while on stage.
The day of the performance, Brenda got an e-mail saying that the guy who plays her on-stage boyfriend was sick and he was being replaced by someone else for the performance. The new guy hadn't done the role in almost a year and had 5 hours notice to get the lines and staging back in his head. Now, in an ideal world, a performer would get ample rehearsal, much of which would be on-stage and with orchestra, and would perform with the same cast members for the sake of continuity. You know what to expect when you're performing with the same people. For this production of La Bohème, however, Brenda didn't have the luxury of much rehearsal nor performances with the exact same cast. In spite of these less than ideal conditions, however, the show went really well. Brenda has one more performance of La Bohème on the 8th.
Brenda in her costume for La Bohème.
Christmas came and went last week and, other than all the stores being closed for 3 1/2 days, it felt a lot like Christmas in America. On Christmas eve, Brenda and I went to the English speaking church around the corner with our friends, Barb and Michael. Barb was scheduled to sing a duet at the service but wasn't feeling her best and asked Brenda to fill in for her in singing "What Child Is This". After the service, Barb and Michael had us over for a really nice home-made Italian dinner. They made an amazing baked ziti and served it with equally amazing garlic bread. We had a really great time and, since we're all natural talkers, we ended up staying till the wee hours of the morning.
Brenda opening a present and, seemingly, liking it.
Barb, Michael and me on Christmas Eve. And the amazing baked ziti.
Looking at this picture is making me hungry.
We've been doing a lot of socializing lately but, after the new year, we'll be getting down to business. Brenda has been working on Orlando Furioso more and more lately and will start staging rehearsals on the 4th. My German class will be picking back up on the 4th, as well, and it looks like I'll be starting rehearsals for a small role in Parsifal with Frankfurt Opera mid-way through February.
That gets you caught up with us. I hope you have a very happy New Year and I'll talk to you next week!
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