New York City Opera

These last couple months have been fun in New York. Always nice to come back to the Big Apple for good work. And City Opera's Butterfly was definitely that.

Gigs are always fun to look forward to. Each job will always be different, no matter if you go back to a company you know. Debuts are always special. First time at a new place. New faces. In the case of Butterfly, it was nice to know I'd get to work with friends. Always takes the edge off when you actually KNOW somebody on your first day at school.

I'd always heard all kinds of talk about City Opera. No, the fees aren't as plentiful as other companies. Yeah...the acoustics had a reputation for being less-than-adequate. And now with new management, who KNEW how things would go. I wasn't about to make any assumptions. Wouldn't have done me any good.

And d'you know...I think we might have a decent company on our hands, folks. Good people working behind the scenes, both offstage in the wings as well as in the offices and various workshops. Good people working onstage. Solid musicians, this production had. Just an overall positive vibe going on that you don't always get. Throughout the progression of rehearsals and music, there was a definite uplifting sort of attitude that made one look forward to going in to work...even on those days when one would have awoken to gray, drippy weather out and had wished to pull up the covers and sleep in with warm puppies under the covers, then spend the later bits of morning clad in sweats, clicking away at a game controller, in heated battle over the internet with like-minded buddies.

There was a professionalism that actually helped the day pass by quicker. Rehearsals would end earlier because everyone was on the same wavelength, it seemed, and so the well-oiled machine performed (no pun intended) with a smooth efficiency that yielded shorter work days and happy bosses. And then Happy almost always infected more and more people to where opening night arrived like glistening shore break on a black pebbly beach. So crisp. So fresh. But with power behind it, too.

I can't wait to come back!