Backstage at "Lost in the Stars" I: A short sharp shock

The "unsung artists" (the non-singing actors) of
"Lost in the Stars"

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While I am mostly a music and theatre critic these days I have also been an actor/singer since roughly the late Jurassic Era and still do a show now and then. I was in Stray Dog Theatre's award-winning production of “Ragtime” last year, for example, and will be appearing in “The Crucible” there next year.

I have done a lot of non-musical theatre, a fair amount of musical theatre and, in recent years, my share of cabaret. What I haven't done is perform with an opera company (unless you count by brief appearance in the chorus of a production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” many years ago, which I don't). So my current acting gig in Union Avenue Opera's production of Kurt Weill's last masterpiece, “Lost in the Stars” (August 17 - 25, 2018) has given me some interesting insights into a form of musical theatre that I had previously experienced only as a critic. Over the next few days, I'm offering some possibly interesting observations.

Observation No. 1: The rehearsal period is short. I'm accustomed to rehearsal schedules of around four weeks or so, including tech week. “Lost in the Stars” started full rehearsals on August 1st, less than three weeks before opening night. Everyone was expected to have their roles fully memorized before the first rehearsal--an unusual requirement, but entirely reasonable given the short time frame.

One of the reasons this is practical, I think, is that (unlike theatre companies in general) opera companies tend to repeat a lot of the same core repertoire, so it's plausible to assume most singers in the major roles are not approaching their parts for the first time. That means most of them will already know their roles anyway and will only need to polish them a bit before starting rehearsals. That's less likely with a relative rarity like "Lost in the Stars," of course, but in general it's a respectable rule of thumb.

The chorus, which plays an important role in the work, started rehearsing about two weeks before the rest of us. More on our remarkable chorus later.