Sooo, the premiere came and went and would probably be accounted a great success (as in, we the singers had gratifyingly solid applause; the production team elicited loud boos and also deafening cheers, and I think the latter rather won out).  Next up was yesterday night, that is to say the second performance, two days later.  Has to be said, such a second performance is often... how shall we put it?... slightly lacking in energy, to say the least.

Well, not when your lead soprano has been taken unexpectedly ill (get well, S!) and you have a (wonderful) guest who will sing the role from the side of the stage and a trusty assistant director (the same diminutive powerhouse who swapped roles with such gay abandon in My Fair Lady) who will act the part (and, amazingly, wear the same costume, but with the strings etc pulled in - you seriously wouldn't credit that it was the same thing!).

The energy generated from reacting to the changed circumstances kept us all going for the whole evening.  It turned into a very good performance, despite the obvious limitations.  Interesting!

First reviews of the production have been overwhelmingly positive, which is great.  As a singer, I have to bitch a little about the sheer amount of words expended upon the concept aspect, as opposed to the actual performance, but I suppose that's pretty much the norm nowadays, and especially to be expected given how famous our director is.

Anyway, as evidenced by the photo top left, there are now definite signs of spring appearing - hooray!  I'm hoping for more of the same for at least a couple of weeks, after which I plunge once again into the rehearsal swamp and can't hope to come up for breath at anything like regular intervals.  Thank goodness for my little sun-trap of a balcony; with any luck, I should enjoy at least a few lazy hours stretched out thereon in the next few days...

(PS the photo made me think especially of my dear friend Masayo in Japan... heh, yes, cherry blossom is a total cliché, but clichés are sometimes simply a shortcut in the thought process... she knows that my love and best wishes go out to her and her family and loved ones.)