11/7/06

Today began with a first sitzprobe where the singers sang through the first act with the orchestra.  The cast was very excited to start singing with the orchestra so early in the rehearsal process.  While not a perfect performance of the act, both the singers and orchestra were able to continue tailoring their performances to the “east meets west” style of Tan Dun’s music.  Laying this musical groundwork with the orchestra will only help the singers as staging begins.

After lunch, Zhang Yimou held his first staging rehearsal.  The rehearsal began with Dou Dou Huang, the choreographer, showing Zhang Yimou the work he had done with the ballet on the first scene during his previous ballet rehearsals both during the summer as well as earlier in the month.  Zhang Yimou enjoyed what Dou Dou had to show him, but the current choreography wasn’t exactly what the director was looking for.  The first scene of the opera puts the full chorus and ballet (130 in all!) in identical warrior costumes. Zhang Yimou wants this army of 130 people to move in concert.  The choreography that was shown to him would make the ballet too different from the chorus. Perhaps a bit thrown, but not defeated, Dou Dou returned to the ballet studio to adjust his choreography.

After a break, Zhang Yimou worked with Michelle DeYoung (the Shaman) and Wu Hsing-Kuo (the Yin Yang Master) on the first scene of the opera.  Wu Hsing-Kuo began improvising with traditional Peking Opera gestures to accompany his entrance.  Tan Dun remarked that Mr. Wu was as famous a Peking Opera singer as Mr. Domingo was a western opera singer, so it was an incredible treat to watch Mr. Wu work.  The Peking Opera style is not one that many of us get to see in performance, let alone rehearsal.  I believe his performance will be extremely powerful.  Ms. DeYoung, after some instruction from Wu Hsing-Kuo also began trying the traditional gestures to compliment the ritualistic nature of the opening scene.  Through numerous repetitions, Ms. DeYoung became more and more comfortable with the very foreign movements.

Tan Dun explained in the sitzprobe that the Yin Yang Master’s music takes the audience back 2,000 years to tell the story of the First Emperor.  The Peking Opera gestures of Wu Hsing-Kuo and Ms. DeYoung, as well as the ritualistic dancing of the ballet, serve to visually transport the audience back to that distant time.

Friday, 11/17

In the elevator or the way to rehearsal I was with two young guys who seemed very nervous. I thought they were young singers. The conversation went as follows:

“Did you bring your rocks?”
“Yes, did you?”
“No , man, I looked and did not find any. I wonder if I will be fired.”
“Maybe someone brought extras. They cannot fire you just for not bringing rocks. I hope this does not need to be memorized today”.
“Hope not.”
(elevator doors open)

It turns out these were drummers in the first scene, on their way to their first staging rehearsal. The drums are works of art in themselves, painted red, white and, I believe, black, in a yin-yang sort of pattern. They are also huge, maybe the size of timpani, but they look like giant buns.The clay flower pots are exactly that… clay pots on pieces of plywood.

Before today’s rehearsal I made my habitual stop at the basement level ladies’ room. There I found a Chinese woman filling the water phones. What a wild instrument. She said that the best sound comes from swirling the water around in the bowl after striking. It looks like a big metal ewer (for the crossword puzzle fans, you will know this word) with metal spokes extending from bottom to top, sort of making a cage around the ewer. The player bows the spokes and swirls the water.

There were more interesting comments from Tan Dun. One especially stuck with me. He is using the old instruments vs the new in the beginning to show a transition from older Qin dynasty, First Emperor (pronounced “Chin”) to newer China/western music in the form of a conversation between the two types of instruments. Also, he mentioned a moment in Act II Sc. II final scene when there is a very abrupt sort of transition in the music. There are gongs used and apparently will be a big gong onstage symbolizing a change to another dynasty when it is struck.

11/6/06

Today’s morning session got off to a great start as Tan Dun, the composer and conductor, and Zhang Yimou, the director, gave a production presentation to the cast and staff of this production. We started by having everyone introduce themselves. Zhang Yimou, one of China’s best-known movie directors, met many of the cast members for the first time. We learned that he was actually born and raised in the area around Xian, where the historical First Emperor lived and consolidated his power, uniting seven warring kingdoms to create the first Chinese Empire in about 221 B.C. Zhang Yimou described the historical facts that are known about Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor, including these: he began the project of building the Great Wall, he standardized weights and measures throughout China, he unified the system of road widths and the size of cart wheels, thereby increasing transportation, and he also standardized the written Chinese language. In addition, the vast underground army of terra cotta warriors, discovered near Xian in the 1970’s, was constructed on his orders as a way to protect his soul in the afterlife. He also was a brutal ruler, and caused the deaths of many thousands of his own people. In standardizing the language, he ordered that all the old books and records be burned, and he also carried on many wars in order to solidify his rule. Tan Dun pointed out that in tackling this piece, he was interested in exploring the contradictions in this ruler, a man who wanted to establish the peace, but who inevitably must wage wars in order to do so.

Zhang Yimou also introduced the scenic design, and showed everyone photographs of the scenery, which were taken when it was set up for the first time on the Met’s stage in August for preliminary lighting rehearsals. He also introduced Emi Wada, the costume designer, who has worked with him before on his movies Hero and The House of Flying Daggers. Emi Wada then introduced her beautiful sketches for the stunningly colorful costumes she has designed for this production.

Fan Yue, Zhang Yimou, and Wang Chaoge
Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

After the lunch break, the cast reassembled for the first sing-through of the score, with piano. Tan Dun conducted them, and while everyone wasn’t yet letter perfect on their parts (Plácido Domingo joked that there would be a $5 fine for every mistake!), it was very exciting for everyone to hear what the opera sounds like for the first time! Wu Hsing-Kuo, a famous Peking Opera performer from Taiwan is the first singer we hear in Act One, and everyone was very impressed with the very Chinese sound of his music and his voice. It seems that this piece is going to result in lots of interesting cross-cultural discoveries!