Rehearsing First Emperor has been a fantastic and incredibly intriguing experience. I feel as if a piece of China has been magically transported to the Met. It’s not just the amount of Chinese all of us hear as discussions take place among the directing team, Tan Dun and the translators. It’s the movements arrestingly demonstrated by Wang Chao Ge, one of the directors, or our Yin Yang master, Wu Hsing Kuo. Just the position of their feet or a slight shift of their back demonstrates a variety of emotions. One day, Zhang Yimou showed us the sneaky unctuous character of the Chief Minister by bending over, twisting his head to the side and shifting his eyes. Just a minute before he had been a proud and powerful general with his back straight and one fist inside an open palm. As Suzanne mentioned, Wang is amazing. Her energy flows from one emotion and expression into the next. She is the most active director for blocking the artists and showing them movements and reactions. We can witness her creativity in her body and face from moment to moment. When Tan wants a change because of what he had envisioned musically, she comes up with one possibility after another,r demonstrating effortlessly, seamlessly
Today she, our translator, Kerry, and Peter McClintock, one of the assistant directors, were sitting on the prompt box waiting until the stage manager gave the OK to begin the scene. Peter joked that every time he looked up, it seemed that more of the set was disappearing. This was because the stagehands were removing some of the bricks (we are building the Great Wall in this opera!). They were scurrying down the steps of the set, with these large bricks under their arms. I said it looked as if they were stealing them and we all cracked up.
We began working on the first part of the second act on stage today. It was the first time I had seen the choreography of the dancers. As I mentioned we/they are building the Great Wall. I asked them why they were wearing gloves. They told me that the gloves were there for protection. When I saw the unusual way they crawled down the steps I understood why. Dou Dou, the choreographer has them coming down, hands first, half crouching. It’s very primitive, almost animalistic. The dancers’ downtrodden movements express the backbreaking slave labor
And of course, there is our composer and conductor, Tan Dun. He has compared himself to a tailor several times, saying he will alter and fit the singers! When he changes or adds something to the music, he is considering the vibration of it, the dramatic implications to the character, the freshness of the pitch (has it just been repeated), the subtlety of the dynamics and color. He has such grace and energy in his movements, almost like watching a tai chi master. There is a combination of great tranquility, savoring the moment, and enormous drive, direction and total confidence. In other words, his body expresses his music. It is so unusual to have the composer of an opera actually conduct it. I wondered what it would be like, but at the first orchestra rehearsal last month, it was obvious that in this instance, no one else could bring the depth of understanding to it like the composer himself. Who else could explain to the orchestra that the ringing of this bell meant the end of one dynasty and signaled the beginning of the next?
Well, it’s getting late………and we are continuing Act II tomorrow morning. More anon…

This entry was posted by Donna Racik on Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 6:55 am and is filed under The First Emperor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.