May 19, 2012: another bite

Larry, in dreams

Larry:
You again?

Coworker Deb:
Don't look so disappointed.

Larry:
You seem to show up everywhere these days.

Deb:
I show up everywhere these nights, you mean.

Larry:
You always were detail-oriented.

Deb:
Cleaning up after the messes of others....line 12 on my C.V.

Larry:
What in the hell is that!?!

Deb:
This is Little Devil.  My pet feral cat.

Larry:
Who keeps a wild cat as a pet?

Deb:
We prefer the term feral.
And I keep one, apparently.  At least in this dream.

Larry:
He seems dangerous.
He seems unhinged.
He looks, well, quite cat-like.

Deb:
He is dangerous.
He's quite unhinged.
He looks distinctly like you, Larry.

Larry:
Little Devil? Oh shit, he does look like me!
He is dangerous.
He's quite unhinged.
In my dreams I'm cat-Larry.
Not human, but feline.
Shape-shifting, metamorphosing,
Cat-man!

Both:
Stalking my/your prey
Gone by light of day
The dream world's most deadly cat assassin.

May 19, 2012: bite-sized opera

Here are a few of my entries for the English National Opera's "Mini Operas" Script competition....perhaps appropriately, they each came to me within minutes.  They are supposed to be 5-7 minutes long, which is a very difficult way of writing a script; some composers take 7 minutes to elaborate on only a few lines of rhyming lines, while others could jam-pack whole conversations into that time period.  Using my dramatic/character ideas, I tried to imagine what lines I would want to stretch out with musical expression, what might go by very quickly.  In any case, I wrote things I'd like to compose music for (if I was remotely talented in that field), or that I'd want to sing in myself.


A Family of Watching

FATHER:
You've heard the story before:
A love for the ages, a horrible meltdown.  Desperate passion unfulfilled.
Those two lovers make the rest of us cringe with jealousy and disgust.
What if it was your brother, your college roommate, or your work colleague.
Does it matter who it is?
The story is not them.  It is us.  The watchers. The envious voyeurs.

MOTHER:
I smile through pain.

SISTER:
 I pluck my eyebrows.

COUSIN:
I tattoo my rage.

UNCLE:
I rarely act my age.

WHOLE FAMILY
We've watched those lovers, our lovers
Jealously guarding their dreams of happiness.
Jealously guarding our joy in their failure.
We are watching others live and we love to let them lose their way.
One more day watching is just a day.

May 14, 2012: A lady's life in the Rocky Mountains

Check it out, it's a real book by my favorite Victorian travel writer extraordinaire.  And now it's my life too!  Well, that is to say, I'm a lady, and from my new/old home in Denver, I can observe those Rocky Mountains from a comfortable distance, and on occasion venture into them.
Yes, I'm back in my home town of Denver, and am busy working on all sorts of musical/entrepreneurial ideas to engage myself in the exciting arts scene here.  I think there are a few niches to fill, so I'm working to bring some plans to life...more on those plans in the future.

Meanwhile, a very brief update on the past year:  I spent a wonderful singing summer in rural (read: humid) Arkansas, performing one of my favorite roles (the conniving Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro) and a new and tricky role (Meg March in Little Women).  Then I returned to Steamboat Springs, CO for another ridiculous old(er) lady, the mother in Hansel and Gretel.
My second and last year at UMKC turned into a busy and very rewarding one.  I organized a really delightful Lieder Abend, celebrating Franz Liszt's 200th year, took part in the grand opening of Kansas City's new Kauffman Center, revisited Marcellina, sang excerpts from a Pulitzer-Prize winning opera, and took on one of opera's most celebrated roles, Carmen.  I also made my directorial debut, just to mix it up a bit.

And now for a bit of a respite...sort of.

I'm finally getting around to some of my writing projects, which have been sitting on the shelves (both literal and those figurative shelves deep within the folds of my grey matter) for quite awhile.  To spur on my own longer projects, I'm entering a few libretti into this really interesting competition put on by the English National Opera.  Those will be up as soon as I've given them a last edit.

So, onward and upward...at least to 5280 ft. (the recognized altitude of Denver, CO, for all of those non-natives).