Apologies for the long hiatus. I would love to report that I have been lazing on tropical islands, exploring long-lost cities in the jungle, wrestling alligators, overthrowing governments or pottering aimlessly along the Rhine; in fact I have been out of action due to a fractured knee. First I came off my bike in order to avoid a small child in the road; then (evidently to make sure the knee was properly wrecked), I slithered and crashed on a suddenly-wet pavement, despite flat shoes (SO not me) and a crutch due to the earlier injury.
We shall pass quickly over the painful and inelegant stage immediately following the second splat (it involved ambulances, hospitalisation, more crutches - I stuck diamante on those, mind, just to give them a bit of je ne sais quoi, sad little changes of plan, helplessness and quite a bit of humiliation, including but not limited to being shoveled around in a wheelchair and crawling carefully up and down stairs on my bottom...). Suffice it to say that I am at present in the totally frustrating state of being written off sick until the end of September, without a firm date upon which I shall be back to normal (apparently this is par for the course with knees, which are capricious things, but is not the easiest thing to convey to the Powers What Be at the theatre), and forced thereby to miss the première of Mefistofele, with my tigerlike role involving leaping around in vertiginous stilettos having been reluctantly handed over to another singer. Damn it.
I am very aware that Joyce di Donato went on as Rosina with a fractured leg, in a wheelchair - and I would have loved to work around this in a similar fashion - but she was the Star, and I am just a jobbing singer, and besides, the director's concept includes half the chorus dressing in identical costumes later in the opera, complete with silly shoes, all of which had already been bought and rehearsed in. It just wasn't possible this time.
Not an awful lot more to say (for once, huh?). Onwards and upwards, with a slight lean to one side and a state-of-the-art personalised knee brace providing that little extra something... Come on, femur, you can do it.
I would be grateful, however, if in future, people could refrain from wishing me out on to stage with a hearty "break a leg!"...
We shall pass quickly over the painful and inelegant stage immediately following the second splat (it involved ambulances, hospitalisation, more crutches - I stuck diamante on those, mind, just to give them a bit of je ne sais quoi, sad little changes of plan, helplessness and quite a bit of humiliation, including but not limited to being shoveled around in a wheelchair and crawling carefully up and down stairs on my bottom...). Suffice it to say that I am at present in the totally frustrating state of being written off sick until the end of September, without a firm date upon which I shall be back to normal (apparently this is par for the course with knees, which are capricious things, but is not the easiest thing to convey to the Powers What Be at the theatre), and forced thereby to miss the première of Mefistofele, with my tigerlike role involving leaping around in vertiginous stilettos having been reluctantly handed over to another singer. Damn it.
I am very aware that Joyce di Donato went on as Rosina with a fractured leg, in a wheelchair - and I would have loved to work around this in a similar fashion - but she was the Star, and I am just a jobbing singer, and besides, the director's concept includes half the chorus dressing in identical costumes later in the opera, complete with silly shoes, all of which had already been bought and rehearsed in. It just wasn't possible this time.
Not an awful lot more to say (for once, huh?). Onwards and upwards, with a slight lean to one side and a state-of-the-art personalised knee brace providing that little extra something... Come on, femur, you can do it.
I would be grateful, however, if in future, people could refrain from wishing me out on to stage with a hearty "break a leg!"...
You have all my sympathies. I fractured my kneecap in 2004. Yes, it was a long haul. I had surgery, and then physical therapy for almost a year. I still use a cane if there's ice on the ground. I fell on that same knee a few weeks ago; the doctor told me that the fact that it had a metal plate over it (from the previous surgery) saved it from breaking this time. Best wishes for a quick recovery so you can be back onstage soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks, babydramatic - so sorry to hear about your knee problems, but how ironic that the plate saved your bacon this time around!
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