Sheila Christie – soprano

I had my first staging rehearsal for Rigoletto yesterday. It was SO much fun! I wasn’t sure how much I would get to do as Giovanna as I don’t have a lot of singing but I get to do a lot of onstage work with Gilda and Rigoletto!  Glynis (the director) is really letting everyone explore their characters and there are already so many layers – I can’t wait to see how far it will go! I was flattered when David Adams, the assistant director, came up to me and mentioned that Glynis had commented that I was doing a good job (yay!!!). The experience of being a principal is quite different from doing a role and I must say that I am enjoying every minute!

I met Eglise (Gilda), Donnie-Ray (Rigoletto), and Bruce (the Duke) yesterday. They are all really nice and amazingly talented. After rehearsal, I took Eglise and Adrianne (company manager for VO) to the bank so that Eglise could get some Canadian money and afterward Eglise and I went for lunch. I had to wait a bit while they were at the bank, and to thank me, she bought me lunch! It was so sweet and generous and completely unexpected!

This morning we had a meet n’ greet at the rehearsal hall and I got to meet the rest of the cast and many people from the administrative staff at VO that I hadn’t met before. I had a good chat with Christopher Libby, managing director, and Ling Chan, his assistant, about blogging a social media. I learned that there is a link to my blog on Vancouver Opera’s blog and realized that I better get blogging more!

After the meet n’ greet, we had a music rehearsal of some of the Act One music and I got to really hear Eglise, Donnie-Ray, and Bruce sing. It was so exciting! Eglise sang through “Caro nome” (Gilda’s big aria) and it was stunning – I am in love with her voice! Bruce’s Duke is gorgeous and Donnie-Ray’s voice is so powerful it makes my spine tingle (in a very good way!). I was released after the music rehearsal and made my way to my costume fitting. The style of the costumes was described to me as “medieval punk” so, I was looking forward to seeing what I will be wearing. Unfortunately, my costume was not in it’s finished state, so I just had a fitting and will have to wait to see the finished product.

After my costume fitting, I ran a few errands and then did a little shopping. Having the extra time downtown is proving a little dangerous to my pocketbook! Part of the problem is that we got our final cheque from Carmen on Thursday and then I got a cheque for Rigoletto yesterday and it is burning a hole in my little shopaholic pocket! I treated myself to a new pair of shoes yesterday and today….I bought a leather jacket. In my defense, both items were on sale (my two favourite words in the English language) AND the shoes are Fluevogs AND the jacket fits like a glove. I have tried on A LOT of ill-fitting leather jackets and when this one just slid on like butter….it was meant to be! Just because I like to share…here are some pics:

Thanks for stopping by, come back more of shopping opera adventures!