Opera... It's Complicated.

By Alison Moritz

Opera is complicated - that's why we love it. But it takes a lot of effort, expertise, and patience to coordinate all the elements of a given production. In the end, everything comes together in the crucial week before opening night. Here's a behind-the-scenes breakdown of Tech Week for the Atlanta Opera's current production of Tosca (running through October 13):

Thursday, September 26: Final Room Run

After weeks of finessing musical and staging choices in the rehearsal room, the entire cast (including chorus, supernumeraries, and children) comes together to rehearse the opera in its entirety for the first time. Members from the design and production teams use this as an opportunity to troubleshoot certain moments - how fast will that quick change really have to be? Is this the final version of a certain prop for Act II? For the singers, this is their first chance to test the stamina and concentration necessary to perform the show from beginning to end. The goal of the Final Room Run is to get everyone in the whole company on the same page before we start adding the technical elements of set, costumes, and lights.

Friday, September 27: Artists Day Off and Load-In to Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

While the singers enjoy a day of rest, the crew loads into the theatre. The set for Tosca is particularly large, so the first day is focused on getting the structure of Act I built - the interior of the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle.

Saturday through Monday, September 28 - 30 : Technical Rehearsals and Sitzprobe

During the day, teams build the set, work on props, focus the lights, put the finishing details on costumes, and style the wigs. In the evening, the cast arrives and we rehearse each act in sequence. As we go, many small adjustments get made - transforming the intimate staging of Tosca that we perfected in the rehearsal room into an experience that will translate into the 2,750 seat theatre.

Our Sitzprobe is actually a Wandelprobe - which means that the singers walk their positions on the stage while they rehearse with conductor Arthur Fagen and the orchestra. The music staff takes notes, listening for balance between the instruments and the singers.

©Jeff Roffman

Tuesday, October 1: Piano Dress

The crew works during the day to finish construction of sets and props. The lighting design team refocuses lights and works on building cues for the show and making sure that the Stage Manager Erin Janzen Thomson is ready to call the show. Tonight is the first time everything is coming together - including costumes, wigs, and make-up. Afterwards, the production team meets to discuss any adjustments needed before our first Orchestra Dress tomorrow night. Many of the changes are relatively small - Tosca should wear a lighter tiara; Scarpia is going to eat real chicken every night; we are cutting the small table and chair in Act II and going back to the larger votive candles in Act I - the shape of everything is already in place, but there are details left to fix.

Wednesday, October 2: First Orchestra Dress

The morning and afternoon are spent finishing tasks outlined in the production meeting last night. When the singers arrive, they receive a few notes to think about during that night's rehearsal. The orchestra sounds great and everyone is excited to have an audience for the Final Dress Rehearsal tomorrow.

Thursday, October 3: Final Dress Rehearsal

In the afternoon, lighting designer Robert Wierzel, director Tomer Zvulun, and Calling Stage Manager Erin Thompson-Janszen work together to perfect the timing and look of the iris effect that begins each act. The iris we’ve created is a great example of relatively simple stagecraft (curtains and lighting) used to produce a cinematic effect. It's an ingenious idea - one that I will definitely steal in a production of my own someday.

The Final Dress Rehearsal has an audience of invited guests of the cast and orchestra. The singers really come alive, responding to the energy in the house, and it feels more like a first performance than a rehearsal. Having been with this production from the beginning, I was surprised to find myself beginning to cry during Act III. For a few moments, I stopped taking notes in my head and became a member of the audience.

                                                                                                      ©Ken Howard


I've always thought that the best moments in opera are like looking through a kaleidoscope. When your way of looking at something shifts just enough, everything suddenly merges, creating a little bit of magic that only you can see. For a brief moment, I experienced this on Opening Night. Come to the opera, you might find it, too. I hope to see you there.



Alison Moritz is the Resident Assistant Director for the Atlanta Opera’s 2013-2014 season. She’ll be sharing her behind-the-scenes stories and opinions in a series of upcoming blog posts.

Usage of any images on this blog is restricted to The Atlanta Opera and approved news websites. Any other usage, particularly for professional purposes, must have written permission. For additional information, please contact The Atlanta Opera's Marketing Department at 404.881.8801.

Behind the Scenes: Finding the Truth in TOSCA's 'Te Deum'

By Alison Moritz

At its core, Tosca is an opera about truth and lies. Most of us know the double-crossing and misdirection involved in the plot, but the theme of truth in Tosca goes much deeper than just the story. First of all, Tosca is what musicologists call a verismo opera. The word itself is derived from the Italian word “vero” (meaning truth), which stems from the same Latin root as words like verisimilitude and veracity.

Truth in opera? What does that even mean? Historically, verismo opera was associated with a trend towards naturalism in the theatre and literature of writers like Emile Zola and Henrik Ibsen at the end of the 19th century. In studying Tosca before I arrived in Atlanta, I became very interested in Puccini’s desire to create moments of musical and theatrical realism in his opera.

Let’s take the famous Te Deum that ends Act I as a case study: Numerous sources (including Puccini’s own letters) detail the scrupulous attention the composer paid to researching the musical landscape of Rome in the year 1800. He wrote letters to friends who were officials in the Catholic Church, asking them for details of religious ritual. Below is an excerpt from my favorite letter, taken from the memoirs of Puccini’s friend Dante del Fiorentino, a Monsignor who was friends with the composer:

“Go to San Martino. Go to the Bishop, if necessary, and ask him what would be appropriate for the priests as they proceed toward the altar for the celebration of the Te Deum... Find some verses for me, or at least one which will suggest the victory in a prelude before the great Te Deum. Tell the Bishop to invent something for me. If he doesn't, I'll write to the Pope and have him thrown out of his job on the grounds of imbecility.”

To drive the point home, Puccini added a postscript: "Get the words for me, or I'll become a Protestant."

In the end, Puccini received the information he needed (including the exact version of the plainsong used in Rome and the correct order for a procession to the altar). He absorbed all this detail and transformed it into a rite of his own making - something that evoked the grandeur, tradition, and sanctity of a religious procession, without becoming a literal reenactment.

Our production team in Atlanta went through a similar process to create the staging of the Act I Te Deum. Our goal was to do the necessary research to present a respectful interpretation with dramatic impact. I spent a few days calling Catholic organizations in the Atlanta area and checking over the details with the Catholic members of the production team. So far, we think these efforts have paid off. There’s a supernumerary in our procession who has been in three separate productions of Tosca. A few days ago he told me that our version of the procession is the most accurate he’s seen. Another supernumerary, who is an active Catholic, coached me on a few details we could add and remarked on how respectful our interpretation is.

© English National Opera

Why is it so important to us to get this right? On the first day of rehearsal, director Tomer Zvulun spoke to the principals in the cast and reminded them that Tosca is based on the true story of a shepherdess who became a diva after she was discovered by the composer Domenico Cimarosa. He used this anecdote to drive the point home that, even though Tosca is an opera, all the characters are real. They have flaws and are driven by fundamental desires for love and power. When all the characters seem really, truly alive onstage - down to the last chorister and supernumerary - those are the palpable moments in opera that make us all feel more alive in the audience.

Alison Moritz is the Resident Assistant Director for the Atlanta Opera’s 2013-2014 season. She’ll be sharing her behind-the-scenes stories and opinions in a series of upcoming blog posts.

(Special thanks go to Patricia Dejarnett of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.)

Photo one ©Tim Wilkerson.

Usage of any images on this blog is restricted to The Atlanta Opera and approved news websites. Any other usage, particularly for professional purposes, must have written permission. For additional information, please contact The Atlanta Opera's Marketing Department at 404.881.8801.