The Golden Ticket has been a daily part of my life for almost four years.  After we delivered the orchestral parts, the conductor scores, and the piano vocal scores to OTSL, everyone at ALT breathed a collective sigh of relief, because the most significant part of our role as the commissioner of the opera had reached a turning point.  We had taken the plunge in 2006 and embraced the potential in this incredible new opera; we workshopped an early draft in 2007; we worked through revisions with Peter and Donald through 2008; we presented a more extensive workshop in 2009; and when Peter and Donald had completed their performing edition for the world-premiere, our copyist created all of the performance materials required to provide OTSL with everything they needed from a musical perspective to bring the production to life.

Underlying all of the wonderful and deeply rewarding artistic work, the past four years included daily fund raising stress, complicated intellectual property negotiations to make the commission possible, and perhaps most important, telling the world about this incredible new opera, and how they really wanted to be a part of it!

In Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, we found an experienced producing partner that was able to make it possible for the opera to make its way from the page to the stage.  As ALT is primarily a service organization, we rely on strategic and creative partnerships like the one we have developed with OTSL to help usher the works we develop into the repertoire.  Without OTSL, the opera would not have been produced – and without ALT, they wouldn’t have had the opera to produce – so it’s a win/win situation for both companies – but more importantly – it’s a win/win situation for the composer, librettist, the opera itself – and of course, audiences!

So, in turning over the performing materials to OTSL, we could breathe a sigh of relief, because the ALT team knew that we had done everything in our power to to get the opera ready for its premiere – and now we were handing it over to our producing partner to take the reigns and breathe full-scale production life into it.   While I have actually had a few months of “down-time” from The Golden Ticket, it has actually been a few months full of electric tension for me personally.

While I continue to advocate for the opera wherever I go, the production has really been in the hands of OTSL. How would it all come together? Arriving in St. Louis earlier this week to see the production in rehearsal for the first time was exciting, somewhat stressful, and deeply moving.

The first rehearsal I saw was a tech rehearsal on stage – the period of time where the design team is busy working on lighting and refining the technical elements of the show.  Anyone who has ever been involved in a theatrical production knows that tech week can be incredibly challenging. With an opera based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it should come as a surprise to nobody that the tech rehearsals were a whirlwind of activity.  There was a lot of problem solving going on! As a director, I’ve been through enough tech periods to know that this is all par for the course – but I think being an observer to a tech period (as opposed to being an active participant, as when I’m directing a production) is even more stressful.  Fortunately, we have an incredible team on this production, but I had to restrain the director and producer in me.  My role was to sit back and watch, and trust that all was being addressed.

And of course, it was.  By the next rehearsal, enormous strides had been made. It was then on to the piano dress rehearsal – essentially, the last time to run through the opera before the orchestra is involved, and a time where the cast not only gets to feel the full pace of the show, but the design team is able to see all of the elements coming together, including the costumes (which I have to add, are absolutely magnificent in this production – Martin Pakledinaz has truly come up with brilliant designs that are so true to the spirit of Dahl, but so original and witty in their own right!).   After the piano dress, there was some more tech time for the design team to continue working on the physical aspect of the production (ie. lighting, projections, how set pieces move on and off, transitions between scenes etc.), and then the first orchestra dress.

While tech can be a stressful time, hearing the orchestra play through the score in the theater for the first time was one of the most moving experiences I have had in years.  I know Peter has an amazing gift for orchestration, but to finally hear it all come together, not in a workshop setting, but IN THE THEATER, where thousands of people are finally going to get to enjoy it – well, there were moments during the rehearsal that tears were running down my face.

But then – I had to leave!  Yes, zip to the airport, and on a plane to Los Angeles for the OPERA America conference!  While I love OPERA America and all it does for opera, I wasn’t thrilled that the annual conference was planned for this week.  I seriously thought about not attending, and in fact, some of my colleagues here were surprised to see me in LA today since they know that The Golden Ticket is in the midst of its last few days of rehearsals in St. Louis – literally, as I type.  But, at this point, the production in the hands of OTSL, and I can do more for The Golden Ticket, and for all of the other projects ALT is working on, by being here – in LA – meeting with my colleagues from other opera companies all over the country.

So after arriving at LAX just minutes after midnight, and getting to my hotel shortly after 1 AM – I got about 6 hours of sleep, woke up, and started my day with an 8:00 AM meeting – the first of 4 meetings, and 3 general sessions that have been crammed into an incredibly productive day.  There was an option to go see Die Walküre at LA Opera tonight, and as tempted as I was, jet lag is not a pretty thing – so I opted out of  five and a half hours of Wagner to go back to my hotel room and catch up on a bit of work and call it an early night so I could be fresh and awake for my first meeting tomorrow morning – once again at 8:00 AM (for the record, I am not a morning person, and any functional meeting for me before 9 is pushing it – but sacrifices must be made for art, provided coffee is close at hand!).

Tomorrow promises to be another invigorating and exhausting day. Early Saturday morning, I’m back to St. Louis, where I have a meeting with my colleagues from Wexford Festival Opera who are producing the European premiere of The Golden Ticket this October.  All leading up to Sunday… the world premiere!