The voices are beautiful and the music so beautiful that you don’t want the songs to end. The singer/actors look the part of divine lovers and act their roles so convincingly that you will be truly moved by their plight. Even the monster is portrayed with enough complexity (mostly through the gorgeous music that pours out of his ‘ugly’ mouth . . . he’s actually as gorgeous as the rest of the cast, so it’s difficult to hide that!) that you almost feel sorry for the poor brute. The music is melodious and highly reminiscent of Handel’s Messiah in some … Read more
Yesterday evening we actually ran Acis and Galatea for the first time – taking two and a half hours to gradually make our way through the entire show. Acis is of course less than two hours long, but we had allowed ourselves plenty of time to straighten out entrances and exits, deal with inevitable collisions etc. Happily, we were all delighted with the results and went home feeling exhausted and invigorated at the same time. Normally I would be concerned to be running a show this early in the game – considering we still have two weeks before opening, but … Read more
The dancers have joined us and as always, their presence adds a whole new element of excitement for all of us. Suddenly, the singers have context for a great deal of the staging I have given them – and the dancers in turn have real people to relate to rather than music stands, dance bags etc. standing in for sopranos, tenors and basses. Inevitably, there are collisions and traffic problems when arias and choruses which involve all artists are assembled for the first time – but this is part of what makes our rehearsals so much fun and so rewarding. … Read more
We are just finishing week two of rehearsal and I couldn’t be happier with the progress we’ve made on Acis and Galatea. The singers are magnificent – real theatre animals who love to rehearse and enjoy each others’ performances enormously.
There’s a wonderful chemistry between Thomas Macleay (Acis) and Mireille Asselin (Galatea). Their romantic scenes have the perfect combination of sexuality and innocence – to my mind a must for a show which is taking place in Arcadia.
Joao Fernandes (our Polyphemus) has surprised all of us with his spectacular sense of humour and comic timing. In real life … Read more
