This is the second of Tod's three-part interview about the history behind Death and the Powers (didn't I tell you we had a LOT to talk about?). Here, Tod discusses how the first part of the creative team came together - Robert Pinsky, Diane Paulus, Randy Weiner, and Alex McDowell - and worked as a …
Continue reading "Interview with Tod Machover 2: Assembling the Creative Team"
Tod and I got together during an extremely rare moment of down time to shoot this interview a few days ago, right inside the beautiful Opéra de Monte-Carlo, or Monte Carlo Opera House. We had so much to talk about that I decided to cut up his interview into a few installments, starting with how …
Continue reading "Interview with Tod Machover 1: The Idea Behind Death and the Powers"
I was lucky to get this short interview with Tom McNichols, David Kravitz, and Frank Kelley at one of the earlier vocal rehearsals during the summer. Tom, David, and Frank play the parts of the Administration, the United Nations, and the United Way, respectively, who come to Simon later on in the opera to demand …
Continue reading "Interview with Tom McNichols, David Kravitz, and Frank Kelley"
It's hard to believe so many things about being in Monaco. The fact that we're staying above the Fairmont Hairpin, the most famous loop of the Monaco Grand Prix, or that we get to live and work every day right along the glistening Mediterranean Sea, or that we're even here in Monaco at all - …
Matt Checkowski is a busy guy. A graphic designer by training, he moved into film by "sneaking in the back door" at a design company in LA called Imaginary Forces, where he spent his time working on various experience design pieces that eventually led him to spend a year creating the dream sequences in Steven …
Continue reading "Interview with Matt Checkowski – Media Content Designer"
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to grab a few minutes of Karole's time during rehearsals and shoot this interview. When Karole Armitage isn't busy staging the characters in Death and the Powers, she serves as the artistic director for Armitage Gone! Dance, choreographing for numerous companies throughout Europe and America as well …
Continue reading "Interview with Karole Armitage, Choreographer"
We've got a lot of great new interviews coming up in the next few weeks, but for now this'll have to do - this fantastic image depicts Patricia Risley as Evvy, dramatically lit in her famous chandelier scene. You can hear her talk more about what it's like to perform this scene during her interview. …
Last weekend I headed over to Cutler Majestic to see the opera packing up, clearing out of the theater, and shipping the different elements off to Monaco. The changes were already pretty drastic. Before: And after: So now that the walls, chandelier, and all other miscellaneous parts have been shipped off, that's it for rehearsals …
Patricia Risley talks about her character Evvy, Simon Powers' third wife, and what it is like to perform the part. She recalls auditioning for the part and the challenges of the music and role.
I'm currently sitting in the audience at Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston watching Jim and Joelle rehearse one of the pivotal scenes in the opera. "We evolved as meat to want sugar and fat/once that was good, but now that is fatal," croons Jim, writhing in anguish on a blanket on stage. I watch mesmerized …
Opera of the Future 