I had blogged about a couple entr’actes being cut, but my part was mis-marked. They didn’t cute the flute/harp one that everyone knows and loves. They cut the one with the oboe solo.
I can really not worry about this opera at all now. Even so, there wasn’t much to really fret over, as that entr’acte is one I’m comfortable with.
Here’s the Aragonaise that you’ll miss (It really is fun to play!):
I played that one last year, along with a few other selections from Carmen, in a concert. It is a very interesting piece when you’re principal oboe. Even more so when you’ve played the oboe for less than two months, let me tell you.
I’m sorry they cut that – what fun music.
It’s tough – I wish they hadn’t cut out parts of the Toreador chorus, and there are a couple other cuts I’d like to see reinstated (although it’s too late now!). But they can’t afford to pay you all overtime, so we make cuts. 🙂
Honestly, I though the only reason the entr’actes are in is because we need time to cover scene and costume changes. But then we wouldn’t need one before Act 3 since that’s right after intermission… Oh, who knows why they do the things they do…
D Collins: hard to imagine playing this after only a few months of oboe!
Yeah, when I asked someone he blamed the orchestra too, Mike. Truth be told, we’ve done it in time in the past, but the last time we did it a different conductor took things extremely slow and added time, and his assistant was even slower! The overture still needs to be faster than it is, as do a few other numbers. Tempi!
But it usually IS our fault. Sigh. This is why there is always a rub between stage & pit I guess. Well, that along with the fact that we aren’t quite the stars that people on stage are! 🙂
(I love going to San Francisco Opera, where they do no cuts. And everyone there makes the big bucks, as you know.)
The few run-throughs we’ve done so far have come in significantly less than 3 hours, but of course we haven’t done the overture or entr’actes. I don’t really know how long it’s going to be now, but I suspect they made more cuts than they really had to.
And it’s easy to blame the orchestra, since you’re the ones getting overtime pay. But no hard feelings, really! 🙂
When they cut my duet from Flute last year (and yes, a year later I’m still a little bitter about that) they tried to tell me it was for time. But the dang thing was only a minute long and we weren’t running at 3 hours. So clearly, sometimes it’s just an excuse.
I think this might be the fourth time I’ve done Carmen. Going overtime was only an issue the last time. So I think they worry over something they needn’t worry about.
But yeah, it’s always our fault.
(It’s even been our fault when singers have made mistakes. But I won’t blog about that!)