Brussels on the fly...

I awoke on Friday to a blissful day ahead of getting all my papers in
order (in a big pile on the couch), finally going through the clothes
I had piled next to the bed to organize according to season, and
switch out summer clothes for winter clothes. My friends Martino and
Katia were having a concert of their new album with their rock group
KG that night, and I was FINALLY going to get to see them live!
Tullio and I were looking forward to a weekend together at home - at
last!!

Then, I received the phone call. 11am. My agent, to ask if I could
help out in Brussels and jump in the Rake's Progress in Brussels - the
production I had originated two and half years ago. Yes, the one on
the dvd. They had two Anne's, as they had back-to-back performances,
and both of them seemed to be feeling poorly. They wondered if I
could be on standby for Sunday, but then came back and said - uh,
could you come today and sing tonight's performance?? After a quick
call to Tullio to see what he thought ( he said "You scratch their
back and pick up some extra cash - - why not?"), they started
scrambling for tickets. Thankfully, I told them I could also leave
from Milan instead of Turin airport. But the next bus to Malpensa was
at 1pm.

I threw some things in a bag, ran around desperately looking for my
score (nowhere to be found - probably in storage), my video (ditto) or
at least a cd (ditto). I looked in iTunes and it seemed I had copied
the video into my new computer. WRONG. Later, when I opened it up to
watch, I realized I had transferred everything to my exterior hard
drive. Crud. So, I took a cab to the bus stop, being told by the
driver that there was a strike today and he wasn't sure if the bus
would be there. What I didn't know is that there was also a strike
at Turin airport, so thank goodness we had booked with Milan, anyhow.

The bus DID show up, I arrived at the airport at 3, checked in for my
4:50 flight, and hung out in the business class lounge. (which for
Lufthansa pretty much sucks, by the way... why can't the Germans ever
eat any decent food????????)

I arrived in Brussels at 6:30PM, and Peter Tomek (head of music staff
and an old friend) and Annick from the administration (I even know her
from way back, as she used to be at Vlaamse Opera) met me at the
exit. We took the little train together, with Peter going through the
music with me. I hadn't touched the score in a year and a half, when
I had done it in a different production in Paris. Slowly, things came
back to me.

This score is hellish because all the rhythms are wonky and
difficult. Even in the midst of a run of the show, I usually have to
brush up the music, as it is so difficult rhythmically. (At least for
me!) Of course I added a bit of pressure by insisting that I don't
sing it from the side of the stage, but actually do the staging. I
figured it'd all come back to me. Hmmmm.

So while the staff fixed my hair and put my makeup on, old friends
wandered in my dressing room to say hello, Peter played through the
score with me, and Barbara (the assistant director, whom I'd met in
Paris for other reasons during my OTHER Rake) reminded me of where I
was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing onstage.
Crazy!!

During the show, Peter stood offstage to cue me, in case I forgot
words, etc... and Barbara was always offstage to accompany me to my
next stage entrance. It all sort of started to come back. In the
breaks, we'd zip through the next bit to make sure I remembered it. I
only missed a few small lines, and screwed up a little bit of the
stretto of the aria (which everyone has the tendency to do, even if
they're well-rehearsed!) but covered it up well, and was helped out by
the conductor to get back on track after a few beats. I doubt the
audience knew, if they didn't konw the score really well.

At the end of the evening, I got a huge round of applause from
everyone, and was very proud of myself. I went out to dinner with my
"Tom," Mark Padmore, and my "Sellem" - the hilarious Donal Byrne,
Barbara and Eleonora from the administration at Het Ogenblick, one of
my favorite restaurants and one of the few that serves til midnight.

I got a call the next morning to say that, actually, Soprano #2 (Rosie
Joshua, a fabulous and well-known English soprano) still wasn't
feeling well for the next night - Saturday - and Soprano #1 (Sally
Matthews, another great English soprano) was still ill but was going
to try and pull it together for Sunday's matinee. But the question
was - could I sing the that night as well? Me, being cavalier, said
"of course!" So I sang last night's show as well! Two Rake's in a
row. I rehearsed a bit in the afternoon, and did an even better show,
with the other cast - which included Bill Shimmell, the Nick Shadow
from "our" run of the production. Tom Randle acted a wonderful Tom,
and was a joy to play with onstage. The show went really well. In
the midst of all this, my cellphone died. Forgot the recharger.
Crud.

Afterwards, I met up with a friend from Italy, Christian, who's here
studying with Erasmus his last year in Architecture. He and some of
his friends accompanied me to my ex-boyfriend Jan's theater, the KVS,
where we met up with lots of old friends. It was great to see Jan,
and he seems to be doing well. It was understandably a bit
bittersweet in the end to say goodnight, but I think all in all it was
a good visit. He seems happy for me. And it was great to see
Hildegard, Kathy and Danny! The theater's doing really well, despite
budget cuts and a new government (Christian Democrats) that don't seem
to give as much weight to culture.

I'm now waiting a phone call to know whether they need me for today's
show. The word last night was that Sally felt she'd be in shape to
sing today. We shall see. In the meantime, I think I'll go eat
breakfast. The clocks turned back today, so I got an extra hour of
sleep.

YAY!

And... today is my MOM'S BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!