Superdom...



Chorus/Super Dressing room-men!

yes, you read this right! Superdom, not superdome

.

Mysterious goings on behind an opera house curtain.

From the perspective of the supers - that's supernumeraries!

Yes, those extra bodies on stage you see wandering around, arm in arm, maybe. Or engaged in hawking, carousing, or presenting arms as soldiers, etc.

So you want to be a Super?

Be sure you have all evenings free for at least 3 weeks, even longer when a brand new production is premiered. You will need to rehearse in the rehearsal room, have costume fittings.

Learn how to put on stage make up.,

How to put on a real hair wig or baldhead, as the case maybe, beards, mustaches and so forth.

Follow the suggestions and advice of the director.
Later on there will be rehearsals with music, in costume, with orchestra, with chorus, with principal singers, and lastly with the kiddies - if required in the opera - such as in La Boheme!
Culminating in the FINAL dress rehearsal on stage before a selected audience to gauge their reactions!
And if needed, adjustments are made then before the opening night curtain rises.

Well, as we were told by experienced HGO chorister Kade Smith it's best NOT to be able to sing.


vl to r: Kade Smith, Director of Opera to go, and chorister,

Sandra Bernhard, Director of HGOCo, Mike Freese, technical Director.

 A super is just a filler body and supposed to be mum.
Unless directed by the producer/director to do otherwise.
Think silent movies!

Yes, you may roll your eyes, mouth platitudes or whatever comes to mind.

Just as long as it is IN CHARACTER, please.

So you need to sneeze, sneeze in character!

Drop something, do pick it up, as long as it fits the character you've been assigned!

In the stark and brightly lit rehearsal room several of us were shown how to be supers.

Lines marked the spots where one is supposed to be .. standing, moving, acting out the director's suggestions.  Ad libbing is permitted in moderation as long as - you guessed it - it IS in character!

But first we heard about the various duties of the cast of hundreds that make an opera performance even possible. And got the Grand Tour.



Up, up and away goes the set into the flys!




Stage managers 'cockpit '- I did not use flash to show how really dark it is!  this was not quite as dark as it is during a performance



Figaro set

Fly Ropes

Stage hands, electricians, fly operators (yes, those ropes that stretch way up into the darkest spaces above the stage whence walls, clouds and even singers (naturally secured in harnesses) descend or fly across the stage!

 BTW, did you know that all the ropes and stuff can be traced back to sailing ships and their operations? Formerly, sailors were the stage hands moving such equipment even 200 plus years ago.. all those Deus ex Machina figures of old Italian Operas, based on mythology!

Costume shop:
Norma Morales, Head of Costume, explaines how they fit the costumes to perfection to each body type, store and clean them, dye shoes, etc.

Costumes for Marriage of Figaro



Everything has its own box.. from ' underwear-mens' to 'sized tights' :-)
and more, whole walls full



 Variety of 'staches, beards and other hairy things

Then we went  down to the bowels of the house to see where costumes are being built, wigs and mustaches knotted.



Real human hair is used, and it takes an experienced wig maker several hours to make just one. And there are many to make-for principals, choristers and supers! The baldheads are bought prefabricated, then died and stippled to resemble skin with blood vessel. And spirit gum is used to on stick beards, even to secure those baldheads.You can imagine how hot those things get under the bright lights of the stage!

Dotti Staker, Wig and Make Up Department Head shows us how to make sideburns, curl hair and explains how she buys and stores hair!



Dottie Staker disguises herself as Mustache Pete :-) in the blink of an eye!!



Ms Sylvia looks sceptical at the baldhead 'wig' -
'really, a super'd wear that;-0'! 

The stage is actually many - mainstage front, mainstage rear, and sidestage where props for the other production can be stored.

The stage on wheels can be rolled forward quickly, or raised to tilt the floor as can be just made out in this photo



Green wall equals exit from the basement



And finally, we found our way back from the maze of colored corridors underground by looking for a wall in green! That's a wall with elevators to get out!
Before encountering A Phantom of the Opera :-)!!

Which wafted us back to the rehearsal room for another session of what supers do ;-)!..such as freeze in place stage front - yellow lines on the floor - while all assemble on stage before curtain goes up.

Then start selling grapes, fans, flowers, toys, papers!

Waiters shush the kids and Toyseller away from the Cafe Momus (green lines indicate that location)..

Of course there are no kids, no sets, no costumes...but you get the drift

And last but not least our group, in silent movie mode, following the directions of the director reenacted the scene at the square and streets in front of Cafe Momus at Christmas, from La Boheme by Puccini, a record player provided the musical cues,  Ms. Bernhard's arms the physical ones;-)!

I think one needs imagination to make a good super, for sure!

And remember NEVER look down at the floor!

And I have that advice from both the director and the chorister!