Barber, baby

Two down, two to go.

The opening went quite well - there wasn't much I could complain about. But one truly fabulous thing did happen; a piece of flying laundry landed directly on my head, providing a very comedic moment. During the finale of the first act, we are all fighting with each other, and I'm behind the Count, trying to pull him and his sword away from Berta, Bartolo, and Basilio, while Berta throws laundry at us. When I first found out that laundry tossing was in the staging, I recall saying, "Man, if she can just get that to land on somebody's head, that would be comedy GOLD!" It never happened in any rehearsals, although sometimes Nick would catch a piece of it on his sword. But sure enough, opening night, a pair of bloomers flew over his head and directly on top of my head, completely covering my face. The audience went nuts, and since the very next moment was a freeze, I just left the laundry there, on top of my head, until we un-froze. And sure enough, it WAS comedy gold. Alas, this afternoon, the laundry didn't manage to make it atop my head - it was probably a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Before the matinee started today, I was noticing how relaxed I was compared to how I was before the opening performance. I don't know what it is, but I seem to be conditioned to get way more nervous for the opening performances than for the rest of the run. We always have an audience at the final dress, and yet still, when the opening rolls around, my brain seems to scream "IT'S OPENING! MUST BE NERVOUS" and I get more than just the natural butterflies that sit in my stomach before my first entrance. I really wish I could just somehow hypnotize myself out of those opening night jitters, because I have a lot more fun on stage when I'm more relaxed. Singing opera is such a bizarre thing to do- you have to do a lot of work to prepare, but you also have to focus on being completely in the moment when the performance rolls around. Sometimes I literally think - I can't believe I'm doing this right now. This is a completely insane thing to be doing.

But what a fun cast. Bonding with Danny and Nick, my Figaro and Almaviva (and the stars of so many of my videos thus far) has made our stage chemistry unique and special, and allows us to have a lot of give and take on stage as actors. When the three of us are on stage together, I feel a fantastic energy that results from all the fun times we've had together off stage, enjoying happy hours and making wacky videos. It's not often that you have the kind of comfort and connection with your fellow singers that has developed between the three of us, and I am not for a minute taking this wonderful dynamic for granted. Sometimes when art and life overlap, you get the best of both worlds, and I think it's really important to appreciate those moments when they come along.

And then today I had to knock myself in the head, and remind myself that a week from tomorrow I will be at the first sing-through for The Golden Ticket. Daddy, I want an oompa loompa now! Gulp.