Wed, Jun 16, 2010
Commissioned by Glyndebourne Opera House for their new youth oriented community opera, choirmaster Gareth Malone begins his search for untapped teen-aged talent to become the fifty members for the opera's chorus. He realizes that his main obstacle is selling the fact of an opera to youth. After he meets with the creative team who tell him that the opera - called Knight Crew - will be a gritty urban drama, Gareth expands his search by trying to find where disadvantaged youth hang out, as he feels those who have a "past" may give the production a sense of realism. He also realizes that he is taking a chance in doing so, as the production is a huge commitment, which some may not be up for. Finding girls proves to be much easier than finding boys. He does manage to bring two hundred in for a three day workshop, one hundred who he will ultimately choose to audition for the opera's creative team. At that point, the decisions are out of Gareth's hands. Once he hears excerpts from an early draft of the yet uncompleted score, Gareth knows that the auditions are only the first hurdle these amateur chorus members will face. Meanwhile, the opera's creative team have their own problems in finding trained adult professional singers who can pass as teenagers alongside the actual teenagers who will be the chorus.
Wed, Jun 23, 2010
Before rehearsals begin, Gareth wants to expose the chorus members to an opera - for most, their first ever - and takes them into London see a production of "La bohème", which will give them an idea of the scope of their undertaking. After rehearsals start, Gareth knows that he has a challenge in getting the chorus up to speed in learning the music within two month's time before technical and dress rehearsals begin. Gareth also learns the technical challenges in staging an opera, where the chorus must also learn to act and move on-stage, all the while still singing. As such, the chorus members' time is taken up equally if not more by the other creative team members. Gareth, John and Nicholas are all concerned that they won't have enough time in getting the chorus up to speed. As the end of the two months approaches, it becomes obvious to Gareth that some of his chorus members are having difficulties and are on the verge of quitting or not making the cut. Some of these members are those that Gareth had real hopes for, including Kiya, Louis, Stefan and especially Korrel. Gareth also realizes that some of the problems the chorus faces are his fault as being a novice chorus master. Before rehearsals move from the rehearsal hall to the main stage, the chorus face who may be their toughest critic, Glyndebourne's Executive Chairman, Gus Christie, who has opera in his blood.
Wed, Jun 30, 2010
Three weeks before opening night, rehearsals have moved from the rehearsal hall onto the main stage, where the chorus members can feel the energy of standing on-stage a huge theater. It also gives Gareth an opportunity to hear how the chorus sounds in the theater - which is acoustically different than the rehearsal hall - and against the professional singers and the orchestra. Three musical tasks still need to be accomplished. The first is the creation of the twenty strong mother's chorus, which Gareth hopes will include many of the real life mothers of the chorus members. The second is choosing one of the female chorus members to perform a one-line solo if an appropriate girl from among the group can be found. And the third is Gareth conducting one section of music in the wings with the chorus while he watches Nicholas conducting the orchestra via a television monitor. This last task proves more challenging for Gareth than he ever imagined. With days before opening night, potential problems arise with numerous chorus members coming down with colds (with Rory's health issue being a little more serious), a woefully non-confident mother's chorus, and Gareth believing that the camaraderie that has emerged off-stage between the chorus members is making them lose the edginess of the performance required on-stage. He tries to bring in a little real life to refocus their minds on the task at hand.