Onstage > Stage Management: Other

Opera tips

(1/8) > >>

Maribeth:
I'm curious as to any hints/specifics that any opera SMs on this forum use- forms, prep work, book layout, policies in rehearsal, etc. I haven't worked with as many SMs who do opera, so I'd love to compare notes!

smDB:
Before going into any specifics, are you an opera stage manager, or just starting out?  More specifically, what are you curious to know?

Maribeth:
I do both theatre and opera, but I've only worked at small opera companies and I haven't had as much experience working with experienced opera SMs. I've found out most of the differences between working in theatre and opera through my own experience, and was just curious about other people's experiences.

smDB:
Just don't want to offend by telling you things you know.  Well obviously as far as prep work, the 30 second timings are crucial.  I also like to go through and mark all scenes/arias on the right hand side with tabs for easy reference in rehearsal.   As an ASM, once you start to accumulate entrance cues, etc., I always like to put flags for those on the top as sort of a visual check of how long I have till the next cue without flipping pages.  I use tons of post its in my script during rehearsal, as notes about entrances, shifts, quick changes, etc. and then take the time to go back later to clean it up, with garage sale dots and what not.  Obviously, the WWW is your most important piece of paperwork (usually with a preliminary version completed by first run-through).  Don't know if that is helpful at all.  Let me know if you have more specific questions.

Maribeth:
Yes, I do most of that myself. Do you ever use 15 second timings or do you find that 30 seconds is enough?

Once the entrances/exits are set, I go through and put flags at 5 and 2 mintues out, for audio paging and then to check and make sure everyone is in places. Putting the flags at the top of the page is a good idea, and it would definitely be useful to mark the arias (i usually just do scenes). I also highlight rehearsal numbers if they exist, and highlight the top of each system, so that it's easier to jump to the next line during the show.

That's defintiely helpful, I wish I had some more specific questions, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Thanks!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page