Castleton Festival Theatre 1:55 pm July 8 2012
The last of the opera performances was yesterday afternoon - what remains is A Little Night Music which opens on Friday. It was an eventful performance. The pretty clouds that you see above were transformed into another mighty thunderstorm by the time Act 3 arrived. This provided excellent realistic sound effects for the scene in the mountains! A full house was treated to another high temperature dramatically charged, performance of Carmen. This show has been a huge success, marvellous performances from all in William Kerley's excellent and immaculately prepared production and the master himself, Lorin Maazel, presiding over a thrilling musical performance. To find such a thing in a tent in the middle of a field in South West Virginia is one of the many miracles of the 21st century!
It was great to see two colleagues and friends from our recent Chicago season in Castleton for the weekend. They were Mike Donahue and Anya Klepikov, director and designer of our Moscow, Cheryomushki production. As you see they were happy being at Carmen!
After that, a group of us including Richard Stilwell and Marlena Malas, went off to Washington (VA not DC) to a fantastic restaurant, The Inn at Little Washington. This was my first excursion off "campus" apart from a trip to the concert in Manassas on Saturday. This extraordinary place was founded and built up by the remarkable Patrick O'Connell. I have to add my voice to the general chorus of approval.
On a personal note - the designer closely involved with Patrick was Joyce Conwy Evans. In 1962, my very first year at Glyndebourne, she designed the costumes for Günther Rennert's production of L'incoronazione di Poppea which had set designs by the celebrated English architect Hugh Casson. Joyce was, and remains, a one off - a great character and a successful designer in many mediums.
A small world indeed. Patrick is going to call her today and tell her of our encounter. Of course she may not remember this then 20 year old!
I am having a quiet day - no classes. But I will get to the Little Night Music rehearsal later this afternoon.
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