Getting Glyndbourne on the road
Thu 1 Sep 2016
A scene from Madama Butterfly
This year Glyndebourne will take 21 principal cast, two Supers, two children and 29 members of the Glyndebourne Chorus on the Tour. Meanwhile, the Glyndebourne Tour Orchestra consisting of 64 players will use 158 orchestral parts across the three performances. During the rehearsal process the music library will prepare 44 vocal scores for principals and covers, 29 chorus scores and 12 scores for the music staff.
It will be a busy Tour for the making departments, Head of Wigs Sheila Slaymaker says: “Nicky Shaw’s [Designer for Madama Butterfly] vision of a very natural production means that we have needed to carefully examine the tones of hair being used for each performer’s wig. In moving away from the more traditional, stylised versions I feel that Nicky’s designs will add even further poignancy to the piece.”
Making her Glyndebourne design debut, Shaw says: “This Madama Butterfly is extremely special as it’s Glyndebourne’s first ever production [of this opera]. I’ve been working on Butterfly with Annilese [Miskimmon, the director] for almost two years – initially I do a lot of personal research, in this case by researching through books about Japan, mainly photographic, but also learning about the kimono and other aspects of the period we have set it in.”
Hair and makeup for Don Giovanni presents an entirely different challenge for the teams: “There is blood and prosthetics; and of course, some of the hair pieces need to become ‘drunk and disorderly’,” says Sheila. The make-up gives the artists a chance to use some traditional 1950s products and colour palettes.
The company of Don Giovanni
Head of Makeup, Sarah Piper, explains: “We have been carefully reviving Paul Brown’s original designs; for the women the look is very polished, with a nod to Hollywood glamour – we’ve sourced shades of lipsticks from that era and even use some of the products that would have been used at the times such as cream puffs. For most of the male roles the look is very groomed and sophisticated.”
The Cast
Derived from a true story of a Japanese geisha married and abandoned by an American sailor, Puccini’s popular masterwork unfolds as a disastrous clash of East and West. In Glyndebourne’s first-ever production of Madama Butterfly, South Korean soprano Karah Son will play Cio-Cio San, and Italian tenor Matteo Lippi sings the role of American naval officer Pinkerton. After a successful summer singing Hippolyta in the critically acclaimed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Claudia Huckle returns to sing the role of Suzuki and says: “Glyndebourne is defined by its ethos of hard work and high standards – whether at home or on the Tour.”
Another singer returning from the summer Festival is baritone Duncan Rock. Following his success as Tarquinius in The Rape Of Lucretia [Tour 2013] Rock returns to the Tour to sing the title role in Don Giovanni. He is accompanied by tenor Anthony Gregory [The Turn Of The Screw, Tour 2014], who sings Don Ottavio. “I hope to present a Giovanni that is true to the score but also is shaped by my own thoughts and experience. To be authentic and believable it needs to be an interpretation unique to me – I hope the audience can respond to it well.” says Rock.
The third production is Don Giovanni: Behind The Curtain, presented by Paul Rissmann, who has hosted Classics Unwrapped for BBC Radio Scotland. “Consider the current vogue for watching cooking (and I guess I really mean baking) shows on TV,” says Rissmann: “Millions of people religiously tune in to observe, critique and salivate at food being prepared (even if they don’t do it at home). Viewing complete strangers cook from scratch has never been more compelling and has become a great British pastime. But the trade-off is, even though you can witness a mouth-watering dish being created, you still don’t get to taste it! So I’ve been charged with developing a fresh concert format for Glyndebourne that will not only foster a sense of curiosity but also feature some remarkable performances. It will offer audiences old and new a unique opportunity to look ‘behind the curtain’ at Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and I hope it will provide a fascinating night out at the opera.”
Tour by numbers
10 ‘Megacube’ trailers to transport all scenery, props, costumes, wigs, lighting fixtures and orchestral instruments
22 Stage technicians split into teams to facilitate 24 hour operation (this number increases by 1/3 with the addition of local theatre staff)
A Stage Management team of 6, a touring wardrobe, wigs and makeup team of 12, supported an additional team of local theatre staff. A lighting team of 8, who will focus and re-light each production in every new venue.
1 trailer is full of items that will never be seen by an audience. This includes tools, hardware and fixings, specialist access equipment and protective items for staff. We also tour washing machines, dryers and ovens in which the Wigs team dry all wigs ready for the next performance.
A night shift of 16 people will begin stripping out an entire production as soon as the curtain comes down, and replace it with an entirely new production in around eight hours.
The last Glyndebourne trailer, along with the Glyndebourne Staff, will leave the venue at approximately 4am on Sunday morning, ready to start the process all over again at 8am on Monday, in a different city.