Tasmania Discovery Orchestra Meets Stephen Schwartz

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of playing with the Tasmania Discovery Orchestra in  An Evening with Stephen Schwartz as part of the Festival of Broadway.

The Tasmania Discovery Orchestra (TDO) is an initiative of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and came into being in March of this year. It is an orchestra designed to offer musicians with advanced orchestral instrument skills the opportunity to come together and make great music in Hobart, Tasmania. Entry is by audition.

The rehearsal arrangement is designed to encourage interstate players and so is quite compact.  We had five rehearsals: two on Thursday, two on Friday, and one on Saturday, followed by the concert.

Stephen Schwartz is an extremely talented musician and lyricist. It was a delight to see and hear him,  both in interview and performing. The interviewer for the night was Michael A Kerker, the Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). 

Schwartz’ description of the writing process was quite illuminating. It is very easy to have the impression that composers or lyricists sit down and just write what comes to them in an unending flow.  This idea was soon corrected as Schwartz told of many incidences of having to write and re-write until he was satisfied with the end result.

Later on he played a piece he had re-worked, in its original form, at the piano. He then went on to play the second re-write and finally the third, explaining along the way his reasoning for changing the lyrics and the eventual title of the song.  All this was done completely without written music!

Soloists at the concert included some absolutely amazing singers: Liz Callaway, Michael Rose, Silvie Paladino, Adrian Li Donni, Ben Davidson, Julie O’Reilly and Michael Lampard. Musical numbers were from Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, Children of Eden, The Baker’s Wife, Rags and Wicked.

The first Australian performance of two excerpts from Schwartz’ first opera, Séance On A Wet Afternoon, were also performed by Julie O’Reilly and Ben Davidson. The opera premiered at the Opera Santa Barbara late last year and will be performed  in Australia in 2011.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening and a thrill to be in the orchestra for such a pleasurable event.

Quotes from Camelot

I’m not accomplished at thinking so I have Merlyn do it for me. ~ King Arthur

Knights gathering…flowers…your Majesty? ~ Lancelot

Tell me, Milord, have you come into contact with humility lately? ~ Guenevere to Lancelot, after he has professed his prowess to all present

We Pellinores are a tenacious lot. When I get my teeth into something, I sometimes have to leave them there. ~ King Pellinore

The toughest one last eh? You know, Mrs Queen….you’re a prince! ~ Pellinore, when Guenevere tells him the order of the jousts.

Do you know what he did to me once? Mother had a youth potion that took off ten years. When I was nine, he gave it to me. ~ Mordred,  speaking of his step father, King Lot

The adage “Blood is thicker than water”  was invented by undeserving relatives. ~ King Arthur to Mordred

Arthur, you bring the bows and arrows, and I’ll bring the sandwiches. ~ King Pellinore to King Arthur regarding hunting the next day

I want to find that bird, what? I mean, if you his a bird with an arrow, it ought to fall down like a gentleman…..unless it’s a ladybird. ~ King Pellinore

I say, Arthur. Who are you waving at? ~ King Pellinore to King Arthur who is feeling around an invisible wall put there by Morgan le Fey

Look here Morbid, or whatever your name is. I don’t know what slushes through that swampy little mind of yours, but while the King is away, I am in charge of this castle.  And I’m no a believer in all this civil law nonsense.  You make one false move, and you’ll face the jury in two sections, what? Carry the head in myself. Gladly. Oh, wouldn’t I love that! You medieval delinquent! ~ King Pellinore to Mordred, as he is searching for Lancelot and Guenevere

King & I

Well, we've done 6 performances now and I'm zonked!  I think it's mostly because I find it hard to wind down afterwards.  The last couple of nights I have not been able to get to sleep till after 1am!  I was reading I know, but I couldn't sleep anyway, even if I wanted too.    We have four more performances: Thursday, Friday and two on Saturday.  We've had a full house or near full house (less 20 or 30 seats) for each performance so far.  I imagine the last four performances will be sold out judging by that.  

King and I (yet again)

Well we have now had three performances of The King and I.  Today we had our first matinee.  The audience was reasonably responsive but perhaps not quite as responsive as the evening ones.  It was a bit off-putting when a couple of children came running back in (in the audience, not on stage!). 

I feel pretty tired too. It was so hard to concentrate today, particularly during the second half.  When you come back home after a performance, you just want to relax even if you are tired so that means I haven't been hitting the pillow till at least 1am.  Small wonder I found it hard to concentrate on the sermon at church this morning!  I recorded it on my mp3 player though....not brilliant, but I can listen again if I want to!

King and I (again!)

We had our first performance with an audience last night. Although it was actually a final dress rehearal it felt more like a real performnce.  It was a good deal more fun to do than rehearsals though!  The audience feedback made a lot of difference; the humour was more tangible and it's quite encouraging when people clap in the appropriate places. The added bonus for me was that often the applause came before I had a tricky high note for the next number, so I had lots of time to find it!

I hope we can keep the freshness there through all the upcoming performances. As young "Louis" (aka Jordan Gregory) said in the dressing rooms later: "One down - ten to go!"

King and I update

It seems we hadn't seen all the costumes as there were new ones appearing today.  They are spectacular, and that's no exaggeration.  There were some adjustments to make though. At one point Mrs Anna puts on a dressing gown and I had noticed she had been stepping on the hem for the last couple of rehearsals. Today it had been shortened, and she had no problem. The detail involved with the costumes is also worthy of note; as well as the various costume parts there are lots of necklaces, brooches, anklets, bangles, pins and earrings.  I think each person keeps track of their own jewellery. At least they don't have to worry about shoes most of the time as the people of Siam go barefoot!

The orchestra seems to be going ok but intonation is sometimes a problem.  The clarinets are usually the ones and some of the other violins. The young man sitting next to me (on violin) is one of the culprits....and worse, he doesn't seem to notice when he plays out of tune. He also has trouble with syncopated bits. At one stage today he put me off totally (I stopped counting for some reason....arggh, stupid thing to do!) and I completely lost my place.  Fortunately it wasn't to much of an important bit. I'll just have to make sure I don't let it happen again! And maybe I should try and say something to him ....if I can do it without being rude.

I've changed three of my violin strings over the last week.  Out of them all - G, D and A - the A stayed in tune the quickest. I usually allow time for them to adjust and stretch but the A did it more or less overnight. However, at one point in the restringing process it popped out near the bridge end. When I put it back in I didn't notice that my mute had come off too and consequently went to the rehearsal without it. I was rather relieved when I found it later on the lounge room floor, still in good shape ...it could quite easily have been trodden on!

The King and I

The King and I is nearing its final stages of preparation.  Yesterday we had our first run in the DECC (Devonport Entertainment and Convention Centre), with all the lighting people and crew getting their first taste of the action. Of course, there were a lot of mis-cues and curtains coming down in the wrong place but that is just what the rehearsal was about according to Lindy Hingston, the director. 

We also had our first glimpse of the amazing costumes Wendy McCrae (mother of one of my students) has been working hard on. They are fabulous.  The King has about five changes of clothes and they all look just as stunning.  Anna's ball gown is beautiful (but I'm not really keen on the colour).  Lady Tchiang (head wife) looks wonderful - very Siamese!  All the little princes and princesses look really cute: girls with their hair done up and little crowns around the bun on the tops of their heads, and the boys with little pill box hats in gold.  Some of the children are having their hair coloured black for the show. I think some of the adults are too.  Lady Tchiang is wearing a wig but it looks just as effective. (I don't think I'd like to dye my hair black - a bit stark for me.)

The sets are huge, many of them done by Shane Wolfe (the King) ........in fact he is still working on a couple of things! 

The rehearsal schedule steps up a bit this week with rehearsals Tuesday, Thursday and then Saturday and Sunday.  Then next week it's Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and opening night on Friday.  Phew!  I'm not looking forward to that part.