There is still no power here and the living conditions for many of the artists and staff are extremely difficult with no hot water, no air conditioning (temperatures over 100 again yesterday) and communication difficult since no cell phone service from any supplier and the internet only available in two locations.
It is hoped that the public power will be restored soon but may be down for another week or more as a worst case scenario; meanwhile the huge generator brought to give power to the theater did its job yesterday, and we were treated to an enchanting performance of that perfect little masterpiece Il barbiere di Siviglia.
There were three COT alums in the cast, Jonathan Beyer, Cecelia Hall, and Tyler Nelson, singing respectively Figaro, Rosina and Almaviva. Two other splendid singers, Tyler Simpson (Bartolo) and Evan Hughes (Basilio) completed the extremely well chosen cast. Berta’s and Fiorello’s opportunities were well taken by Valerie Nelson and Christopher Besch.
This was a tremendously enjoyable performance – an ensemble accomplishment of enormous polish vocally, and with acting abilities which we have now come to expect of the younger generation of singers. The director Will Kerley was fortunate indeed to have had such a talented team.
Of course the presiding master and quality control genius was Lorin Maazel. This clearly raised everyone’s game. And the excellent Castleton Festival Orchestra, composed of outstanding young musicians from leading conservatories in the US (Curtis, de Paul, NEC, Juilliard etc) as well as from the Royal College of Music in London, produced polished stylish playing of precision and delicacy – after a great deal of hard work with Maazel over the weeks. They are a busy band. They have Carmen’s postponed opening on Wednesday, and are also preparing a concert performance of Bohème and another little symphonic number, Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Dorothy Danner is directing a production of A Little Night Music which will keep everyone occupied further between now and the end of the season on July 22.
And somehow we are having to fit in my responsibilities as and when the young artists are available. This is a tough scheduling task!
I hope to have some pictures up here before the end of today. But the technology challenges have to be overcome – I need to be in the right place for long enough at the right time……
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