In which I work hard for the money

[pallas_athena]

"We're doing the Weinberger," said the plummy voice on the other end of the phone. This was two weeks ago. Previously I hadn't known what translation of Fledermaus these people were doing, so I'd been working on it in German.

Huge sigh of relief: I went out and bought the Weinberger edition of Fledermaus with English translation by Hassall. This was the same translation I'd learnt for another production many moons ago, so a week's work got me offbook.

Last night was the one-and-only rehearsal, and I went along feeling very positive. The conductor introduced us all, then gave the signal to begin Act I.

And the chorus started singing.

"Hang on," I thought, "There's no chorus in Act I of Fledermaus!"

Then the tenor started his solo, and the words he was singing bore no resemblance to the words in my score.

Turns out that Weinberger also do an opera-society version of Fledermaus with lots more chorus, random repeats, random cuts and everything in different keys. And, of course, a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TRANSLATION from the one in the standard Weinberger edition. I sight-read my way through it last night, and now I have one day to get it performance-ready. That whole month I spent working on the score? Wasted.

Felchbuckets.

Comments

[slightlyfoxed.livejournal.com]

Good Lord. Good Luck. Grrr grrrrrrr.

[pvcdiva.livejournal.com]

buncha fucktards!

bastard buggery bollocks...

break a leg, sweetie...

[spyinthehaus.livejournal.com]

Holy God.... Good luck, darling. Let us have tea and post-match analysis. Well, coffee and screaming.

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Thanks guys! I shall get through this by thinking "What would Esther, Dan and Sue do?"

Post-operatic cups of tea/coffee/iced lemony thing most gratefully accepted/shared/chatted over.

[velvetdahlia.livejournal.com]

Yow! I have bad dreams like this, from when I did sing a little-- no where near your talent and prowess.

But, uh, nightmare!

You are mighty though, and I have no doubt you will be great in the role.

Is it this weekend? Is there a Sunday performance, and can we buy tickets at the door?

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Hey lovely. Yeah, it was a vintage actor-nightmare moment-- I did take a few seconds to savour the irony before plunging into the annoyed semi-panic.

Sadly no Sunday performance though. It's sweet of you to think of coming, but I can think of way more entertaining things to do with your Saturday. Like, I dunno, Doctor Who...?

[speedlime.livejournal.com]

Crap, the things I miss whilst simmering in mountain isolation and my own stupid dramas. Since I'm going through LJ in reverse order, I already know you rocked the performance... but then, I KNEW you would! :)