Toi Toi Toi

I've just got home from the final dress of La Boheme at the Boston University Theatre tonight. I haven't blogged about it before simply because there is so much else going on right now. We open tomorrow. That's right - and we opened Persephone just last week. Breaking Ground runs Thurs through Sunday. Rehearsals for Present Laughter start on Tuesday....

What's La Boheme got to do with the Huntington, you ask?

Lots.

It's all about our great professional relationship with Boston University; specifically with the College of Fine Arts. The School of Music, who has an amazing chamber orchestra, also has this great program called the Opera Institute. They get together twice a year with the School of Theatre to put up Opera on the BU Theatre Main stage. Every April the Huntington's production departments join the fun and provide the sets, costumes, props, crew and much more for the production.

Opportunities abound.

There's a professional director, usually Sharon Daniels, and the Scenery, Costumes and Lighting are designed by students in the Design program. We work with them to create their production just like we would for our own directors and designers; lots of design and production meetings, imposing the realities that working with a budget and professional shops involve, creative problem solving and theatrical ingenuity, tight schedules in the shops and theatre, along with our usual high standards of quality.

It's a unique interaction with the students that we see and work with every day, but in different and sometimes more meaningful ways. They're not working on our productions - we're working on theirs. There's a lot more to it than I can explain here, but hopefully you get the picture.

Good lessons for us all.

And good productions.

This post, in sum, is an invitation to you to come experience the result of our fine collaborations.

It is one of the great classic operas. It is designed by tomorrow's theatre professionals. It is played, sung, performed by talent that you're sure to be hearing from again. It is another example of the fine work of the Huntington's talented craftspersons and technicians.

And it is this weekend only.

Read more here, see and hear more here, and buy tickets here.

There will be free tickets at the door for the BU community (one per BU ID) but I'd advise you to order tickets in advance, it's only $15 or $20 bucks to guarantee yourself a seat, and they're going fast.

(The pix I took tonight didn't come out... someone send me a good one and I'll post it)