Get used to me taking weeks to update my blog--I'M GOING TO SARASOTA!!!!!

I found out Friday--the artistic director was about to call me to say I was the first alternate soprano when someone cancelled. I'm in! I'm still in a bit of shock about it. I should get the contract in the mail in a few days; maybe then it will sink in. So the next few months will be busy for me--learning music and taking care of the final wedding stuff in addition to my auditions (we hope) in New York after Thanksgiving. Oh, and Christmas. I've already started on the presents. :)

So we've had three rehearsals now for the opera I'm doing at the end of the month. I'm kind of disappointed. I went into the first rehearsal almost totally off book--maybe needing some work with the timing of big tempo transitions, but that's a natural part of ensemble singing and would probably occur in any company. And there are obviously other people in the cast--proably a handful--who also came in similarly prepared. But there are others--including a woman with a master's degree, fifteen years older than me, with a bigger part--who really didn't have their music learned sufficiently. People are getting notes wrong, they're CONSISTENTLY missing the same entrances, and it's really wasting time in rehearsal that we could be using to refine things (and, what the hell, MEMORIZE, considering that the show's in two weeks!). But no. I assumed, having seen two other productions by this company, that there was a certain professionalism consistent to everyone involved. Some of these people are just community choir-types. And for small parts, that I can understand. But one of the biggest male parts are being sung by this person who is NEVER on pitch, and misses ALL his entrances--which, in this kind of music, is throwing EVERYBODY off. I'm getting really annoyed.

Sorry about all the yelling--I'm just frustrated. I really want this to go well. Did I mention Mark's sister (she of the millions of frequent-flyer miles) is going to come down for, like, sixteen hours? It'll be good to see her.

Oh, and what did y'all think of the debate last night? I only caught the last half-hour (rehearsal--see above). Isn't it good to know that both the men running for president are whipped?