Don Giovanni and Spontaneous Parades

We are currently doing Don Giovanni under the direction of a very famous conductor. The rehearsals are going pretty well... If you count rebellions, brawls, the conductor pantomiming shooting us, storming out of rehearsals and mutinous section members. Welcome to the big leagues, eh? The rehearsals have been one of the most stressful things of my existence actually. If my section comes in wrong guess who's fault it is? If they play out of tune guess who's responsible? If you guessed me, you would be correct. Hearing someone play in a rest and then bracing myself for the imminent baton being brandished in my face like a sword or a finger-gun being pointed in your face is not what I call confidence boosting. We have generally 2 rehearsals a day with the exception of last night, which was a ticketed dress rehearsal, and tonight, which is a blessed break from stress. Don Giovanni gets officially underway tomorrow (Friday) with our first official public performance.

We haven't had a lot of time to get out and see things because of our rehearsal schedule but even the town square is a lot of fun. For example:

The other day Paula, Jessika, Ren and I were walking out of a greek restaurant and heading back to the rehearsal hall which is through the town square. We hit the cross-walk sign that gives us the light to cross and instantly an explosion of noise reached our ears. We looked to the right and were surprised to see a parade marching down the street towards us. Showers of candy began raining down on us and a lady walked up and gave us roses. Just like that, it was over. It was a yearly festival that, after the parade, culminates in a contest to see who can drink the most and still maintain the best shot at a wooden bird they hang. Sound dangerous? I thought so too. I'm hoping that it's not as similar to a pinata as I imagined when a local told us this story. It's bad enough to have men drinking and shooting at this wooden bird until it falls without adding the image of candy falling from said wooden bird to waiting children below. Yikes.


Love you all,

E and Doc