 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Okay, welcome back to Think Tech and to Opera in Hawaii on Think Tech. I'm your host, Jay Fidel. Our show today is called The Magic of Producing an Opera. Wow, I didn't think about that. We're going to talk with an actual producer, Rob Reynolds. And my co-host as before is Lynn Johnson. And we're going to find out exactly what it means to produce an opera. Well, produce, direct, make it happen. This is so important. Nobody knows about this, like a big secret. Lynn, welcome to the show. Thank you. Glad to be here again. Rob, welcome to you to the show. Thank you. Happy to be here. So let's talk about you first. You joined the company. You're now a producer, director. As the case may be, we're going to find out exactly what you do down there. Where did you come from? What is your background in opera? I've been working in opera for 30 years or so. I started out. You must have started out when you were six. Not quite. I started out just doing drafting for Seattle Opera and worked my way up to higher positions of responsibility, and eventually was associate technical director and was responsible for making sure all the physical aspects of the show got on stage correctly. So what is a draft? Drafting? Well, all of the shows need to have directions on how to put them onto the stage so that they fit correctly, so that the sight lines are appropriate. And that requires a drawing, just like an architect might do a drawing to show that everything fits on the stage. So that's where I started, was just doing the drafting of the scenery, where it fit on the stage. And I also did drafting for a scene shop to illustrate exactly how the show should be put together physically. Are you an artist? Not specifically an artist. I do have skills that could be applied to being an artist, but I'm not. But I get so far, we're going to explore this step by step, the way it unfolds, is you're into spatial perception. Yes. And you have to be able to see how the characters and players are going to relate to the scenes, the scenery. And therefore, you're going to have to know the scenery intimately, Amira. Yes. I have to understand how the scenery is going to fit into the space, and then how we're going to surround the scenery appropriately so that it looks neat, it looks clean, and the audience can focus on the story that the scenery supports. It's getting more interesting, right? No, it's important. And I think this is one of the exciting things about opera is that it's not only beautiful music with the voices and with the instruments, but it's a very compelling visual experience. And we've had the experience of the curtain goes up, and the audience beholds the stage and breaks into applause, because it just takes their breath away. Yes, it does. Every time. And so you're part of that visual experience, which is, to me, a very important part of opera. Well, we should take a moment and talk to you about how this has changed, even in your 30 years. It's probably, I mean, way back when we talked about this before, they would stand in the middle of the stage and belt them out and not move a muscle. It wouldn't tolerate that today, and either would an audience tolerate that. So it's changed. How has it changed for you? Well, audience expectations have been modified by all the media that they see today. So going to the opera, in a sense, is a little bit of a step back in terms of the experience that you're going to see. You're seeing 18th century, 19th century art form that we have brought to today. So some shows are going to bring elements of today's aesthetic to it. They're going to bring projections, or they're going to have microphones or something. I don't, you know, I'm not into them. There's the M word. I know. They could. We don't usually bring microphones. To the opera. No, we don't. But then there are also shows where we feature the history of opera in that it's more traditional. It's a painted drop. It's not a dimensional piece of scenery that has a door that opens or a window that the door might be just painted on the drop. So we make those choices over the seasons about what kind of aesthetic we want to bring to a particular show. And we can bring the traditional, or we can bring the modern. So it sounds like you have a lot to say about the scenery. I mean, would you, for example, Peter Dean Beck has been out here 500 times doing scenery? And would you talk to him as he was designing it? Would you consult with him and kibbutz with him? I would expect to, yes. Again, this is my first show here at Hawaii Opera Theater. But I would expect in a new production that he was designing that he would present his ideas to the director and the company and the costume designer. And I would feel comfortable looking at those, bringing my aesthetic to it, and having an opinion. Now in the design, I'm not the final word. I mean, essentially the designer gets to make a choice about what he puts on the stage. But I have a lot of experience of seeing different things. And I might bring some detail or some finesse to it that could present it just a little bit better. You see it from the point of view of the movement of the players on the stage and the view channels that the audience, you make a distinction between the view channel from this side and that side. You examine how a person sitting in the right, that is audience right, as opposed to a person sitting in the audience would see things. You start to satisfy all of them. My job is to be aware and to make the information available to the rest of the players in the group, in the artistic group. There's an artistic director, the scenic director, the designer, the costume designer, so that I can say, you know, in this particular moment, and the director. I mean, that's a big part of this, that I can say, I'm seeing over here from audience left that there's a moment here that might be hidden by a piece of scenery so that I can point that out. We have to see the knife go into Scarpeon. Well, of course, you do have to see that. But there are moments that a director can make a choice and say, look, there's something else going on stage that's more important and we're going to lose just this little bit from that side of the house or this other little bit from the other side of the house. Just the physics of having three walls on stage, if it's a dimensional set, means that perhaps someone on one side of the auditorium is not ever going to see one wall of this three-wall space on stage. And that's an understanding that we bring to the experience and we have to say, you're aware of that and then the design team makes a choice and says, yes, we're aware and we're making a choice. So you have to be aware of the sets, the scenery, the view channels. You have to be aware of the story. You have to be aware of the moves that ideally they would make. In fact, you control the moves. I mean, you're going to tell, if I'm wrong, just have to. I don't control the moves. That's the stage map. The director. There's so many different pieces on there. There's so many different pieces and the fact that they can all get along. I mean, do you ever have big fights? Big fights. There are personalities, people are different and there are energetic discussions that happen in the theater. Energetic discussions. And but in the end, we are focused as a group. I'm putting a fabulous experience in front of the audience and compromises are made all across the board in all the different areas. But there's a lot of people and there are extensive conversations that happen between costumes or wigs. Who should have the conversation? Costumes, wigs, Micai Nash would be there. Absolutely. Yes, music director would be there. Yeah, the director, the scenic designer, the costume designer, all of these areas could be significant in a meeting or in a moment. Do you see the knife? Do you have to see the blood? If she's got a big hat, she can't hear the orchestra. If they have a mask on for some reason, a masked ball, whatever, it has to allow them to sing, but it has to look like a mask that they have to be able to hear. It has to fit with their costume. All of those things have come into our after rehearsal meetings where we're talking about what went on in that rehearsal. So the players are not at these meetings? Players, how do you mean? I mean, the singers. The singers are not. Why wouldn't you include them? I mean, doesn't this affect them? They have a representative there in Micai. And the director, often they're taking the part of a singer's position, saying, she can't hear or she can't see because she has this mask. And how can we address that? And do we have people in time to address that? Do we make a different choice? All of these things, there's representation for all the different areas at these meetings, but there is a hierarchy. So where are you in the hierarchy? I was waiting for this question. I'm one of a group. Because somebody has to rule. For example, if Lynn was there, she'd probably call you. I'd say I don't know squats. I don't know how you reach consensus in some way. How does that work? Well, most often you do reach a consensus. Everybody listens and comes to agree. But there is a hierarchy, and there's someone up at the top who's going to make a choice, even if it has to go to Simon, the executive director, for some reason, and say, we can't afford to make this change, or the director. Simon is not agreeing with me. But that's the business. That is what we do. It's a collaborative art. I couldn't just put a set up there on stage. I mean, two or three and a half hours of sitting and looking at some scenery with no singers wouldn't be much of a show. We have to have all of the parts. So what about the whole notion of the places that the players are when they're acting? And they're acting more these days than they did in the past? They are. Do you set those places? Is that part of your drafting? How do you mean places? I mean, where they are on stage. Where are they on stage? Talk marks, what have you. The director makes those choices. And then as they work through in rehearsal, on the rehearsal hall, it develops a bit. It changes a bit. And then as they get into the theater, and they discover, oh, they're too close to a wall. So they move, or they're at the table in a way. So that's either move the singer or the table. And all of that little detail stuff gets worked on in real time, in rehearsal, on stage. And those adjustments are made. I don't have much control. I sort of supervise people who support it. So if the singer needs a spike on the stage, the stage manager, a spike is a mark on the floor where you need to stand or where a chair needs to stand. You heard it here on Think Tech. This is probably going to be in the final exam. But it's a short answer final exam. Please continue. There's probably marks on the floor. I was thinking, you know, Scarpia, you know? You go back to Scarpia. OK, so it's a mark on the floor so that when that singer knows where to go. Yes, they know that they have the red mark when they're singing this aria or something like that. Or if a chorus member is moving a table, they know they're going from the yellow mark to the green mark or something like that. And those are all called spikes? They are called spikes. And they're color-coded. They're color-coded. By where they are or what act they're in or who needs it. The players cannot look down at the spike. They just have to sort of look through the corner of their eyes. As they move up to it. Because it disappears once you stand on it, obviously. You don't get to see it. But generally, you know, close is pretty good. But there's someone who I supervise, the props master, who is in charge of putting spikes on the floor. So when the stage manager or the director called that, I need a spike for this singer for this moment, they come out, they have their little tape. They say, what kind of, you know, is it an X? Is it red? Is it a T? So they have to have the two feet. So they're, you know, there's an X for T. So each singer have their own color? It's a choice that's made in the course of the show. So it might be that they have their own color, or it might be that a particular act has a particular color. Generally, a singer spike would be that particular singer's color for that moment. And they would know what color to go with. So then we're almost finished with the first half of our little show today. Could you, as my co-host and a member of the Opera Board, and a musicologist, can you summarize what they should know out there about the discussion so far? Well, I think that, OK, my feeling is, you don't want them to know anything. Because you want it for them to look like it's totally natural, right? They just want to look contrived at all. So if it's well done, it looks like these are real people having this passionate relationship. And she's falling in love with a bullfighter. But she's supposed to be with Don Jose. And it's, you know, so yeah, so they don't care. But it's going to work. They care that it works. You know, I mean, how could you cry the way I always do if you're thinking about the spikes on the floor? That's right. We're going to take a short break. And when we come back, Rob, we're going to ask you about the special implications, the special parameters, the special details, the special attention to details, and Carmen has distinguished from all other offers in the world. Coming soon, we'll be right back. What big eyes you have. She's sad. All the better to see you with my dear. What are you doing? OK. Research says reading from birth accelerates the baby's brain development. And you're doing that now? Oh, yeah. This is the starting line. Push. This is over. You're dead. Read aloud 15 minutes. Every child, every parent, every day. Living in this crazy world, so caught up in the confusion. Nothing is making sense. Welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dykes, your host of The Prince of Investing. Coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 AM. Right here on Think, Take, Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investings, your money, all the other great stuff. And I'll be your host. See you Tuesday. OK, we're back with Opera in Hawaii with Lynn Johnson. A member of the Opera Board and my co-host for this show. And Rob Reynolds, who was the director of production for Hawaii Opera Theater. And the one coming up, the opera coming up, starting rehearsals next week is Carmen. That's the C in ABC, right? A for Aida, B for Boh-M, C for Carmen. It means it's one of the top operas in popularity around the world forever. OK, so I wanted to ask you, what's Carmen like from your point of view? What are you trying to convey in terms of the visual impression that you're giving to people? Well, from my perspective, because part of what you're asking about is a designer's eye. And I'm not the designer. My eye is on, is it all fitting together seamlessly? Is it looking neat and clean? Is it, you know, you don't want to see backstage? Really, my car. Really professional, in a way. This is, in other words, this is being done at the highest level. And we know that this is a team that knows what they're doing. And you're seeing it at the highest possible level. So we're bringing this Carmen scenery back. It's been done here before. And my job was to make sure it's tuned up and looking good. The scenery? The scenery. The walls and the floors and the platform. It has to be repainted or reconfigured in some way? It was. This is scenery that was used before here? It was, yes. And we borrowed it from somewhere else? We purchased it from someone back in the day. I don't know exactly when. And then we did Carmen on it. And we've also done, I believe, Midsummer Night's Dream on it, or parts of it. So parts of it were repainted to be Midsummer Night's Dream. The magic of the stage. That's all right. So we repainted it back into be Carmen. And my job is to make sure it looks like Carmen again. And provide the setting that people can work in. What does Carmen look like, though? Carmen is what? Let me, 18th century? 18th century? Or early 19th century? Late 1800s, I guess? I think it's 1900s. Late 1800s. That's 19th century. 19th century. 19th century. Early 19th. Yeah, it's based on a novel about this woman named Carmen. And she's a tough cookie. She's a very tough cookie. And so it takes place in Spain. And she's a gypsy. And she likes, yeah. In several different locations. And part of the challenge is to provide those locations or suggestions of those locations in a way that allows the audience to understand you're moving to a different place, but without changing all of the scenery. So there were choices made by the designer in what exactly is lit and what it being featured in order to try and present the idea that you're in a particular place. You're also coordinating the lighting, then? Yes. There's a lighting designer. And he brings the design. And then I support with managing the crew heads and the crews and running equipment and all of that to provide him with the tools to get the appropriate look on the stage. How much of this can you write down? You were talking before about the drafting, the drawing, essentially of who's where and what the view channels are. That's a lot of information. It is. And then you're talking about all these other people that you're working with. Who's writing that down? Well, each department is writing their own part of it down. And then I would generally see that and vet it in some way and look at it and say, oh, that makes sense. Or I have this question about how do you hang that light where there's no pipe to hang it on or whatever. And then the answer is often, well, you're going to get a pipe there for me, aren't you? And then I have an opportunity, a challenge, to support that choice that's being made. But in the end, we're all looking at our individual specialties. And I have the overview of the different departments to support those specialties. And then bring it all together and make it look refined and have an eye to make it be one whole. But it changes, doesn't it? It does change. It changes from night to night. It changes because air movements in the building. It changes because in the course of the live performance, the table gets moved somewhere else. And I get to learn about that at the first performance and give a note or make a comment or say, do we need a bigger spike in order to hit the proper place? Or is that corner of that scenery catching on a costume? And do we change the costume? Or do we change the scenery? All of that through supporting stuff. Where do you sit? Well, I haven't discovered that yet. This is my first show. But usually, you can sit next to me if you want. You can sit next to Lin. We sit here and show them. I would probably sit out in the middle in the main part of the theater and do a lot of walking around, as we said before, to stay house left, house right, to see what the audience would see, to be able to comment about, you know, there's a moment that might be hidden or not. And to look at, oh, I might see backstage here. Can we put a piece of masking in to make it neat and clean for all the audience, way over on the sides? Yeah, I think there's all these stories about the things that don't, I mean, my favorite one too far. We did. I think it might have been Faust or something like that where there's a graveyard, but then there was a banquet scene before and the turkey got left on and there was a turkey on one of the tombstones. So you've got to take out the turkey. So it was a cooked turkey and then it didn't belong there. So, you know, you have to make sure things have a proper, proper, the things change, let's say, from the first performance to the last. Absolutely, absolutely. The singers are still working a little bit on refining their craft and their interaction with the other singers and the players and with the scenery. So it does change from night to night. They're not always the same before. But when it changes in a way that was not agreed for which you don't like, what do you do to express yourself? Well, I get to take a note and then I can make lots of little doodles around it. And to emphasize, you really mean it. To emphasize that note. And then eventually I would think about it, choose an appropriate way to get the note to the right person, because I'm not gonna go talk directly to the singer. You don't talk directly to the singer. Not generally. I would, I have, there's a chain of command in this and I would go to the director and say, you know, the director, if the singer would hold the knife in a slightly different way, you know, it will interact with the person they're trying to kill better, or, you know, can we bring someone to some attention to this moment? And then the director makes a choice. That's really polishing it right now. Yeah. You know, the thing about Carmen, and I know this from Lynn, is that, you know, she's a very attractive character. And in the beginning of the opera, you know, you're so impressed with her feist and her sass and, you know, her chutzpah, okay? But as it goes forward, you're not so impressed anymore. She sort of declined, in my view, anyway, she declines as a likable character. You know, it's harder to like her to the end of the opera when she dumps on her suitor. Yeah, you kind of like, you feel sorry for Don Jose. I mean, he's given up his girlfriend, he's given up his job, he's just, you know, just jumped in whole-heartedly to be with her and she kind of snickled, right? She snickled, turns them off, she's mean, hard, doesn't want any of it. And so, you know, at the beginning, I mean, I think it's okay to, for me, anyway, it's okay to feel, you know, she's a romantic object, you know? She's beautiful, and she's, you know, she's got a certain special quality to her. At the end, maybe not so. So are you going to track on that kind of character dynamic in the way you set the characters up, the way you set the view channels up, the colors, the lights? You know, for example, we have a red background here today on our green screen. Yeah. And that is Carmen. Carmen is red. But maybe later, Carmen is not so red. Maybe Carmen is darker somehow. Well, you know, that's not exactly something I'm going to be involved directly with. Again, I'm going to support the people who have those important opinions. The lighting designer who's going to make a choice about lighting at the beginning of the opera versus the end of the opera. A costume designer who's going to make a choice about, you know, what she's wearing at the beginning versus the end. The director who's going to say, oh, this kind of prop is going to say one thing at the beginning and a different prop is going to say something different at the end. So my job is to support all those people so they have the tools and they have the objects to make those choices. I think the word support is very important in this context because you, what it sounds like to me, I'd be interested in your thoughts about this, Lynn, what it sounds like to me is one of your principal roles is to respect and appreciate the creative efforts that are going on around you, under you, so that everybody gets his day to be creative in this undertaking. Yes. That's very well put. Well put. Well, I think that's very important. You have to be kind. You have to be respectful. But you have to be focused all the time. Yeah, absolutely. The show's up there on stage and my part is not featured that you could pick it out. There's something you mentioned earlier. You can't pick out the part of what I do. No one came to see making sure that the containers are showing up at the back of the theater with all the scenery. No one came to see that. I supervised that. It showed up. They get to see this wonderful performance on stage where it's all together and of a piece. All right, we're almost out of time again, Lynn. Can you summarize the whole thing? What have we learned today with Rob Reynolds? Well, I think we've learned that he's very important. The show cannot go on without him. And the second thing we've learned is you don't know he's there. You know that he's there, but he brings all these creative pieces together and makes it work into a seamless whole. And I'm really looking forward to Carmen, so I'm glad that we have hired you and that you are here permanent to be part of the Hawaii Opera Theater. I'm happy to be here. And for me, I can't wait for Carmen. I'll be there. Lynn and I will sit close to each other. We'll be watching with due regard for this conversation. And we may be watching the players. We may be listening to the music. We'll be watching all the details. But we'll be thinking of you, Rob. No pressure. No pressure. That's Rob Reynolds, director of production at Hawaii Opera Theater. And my co-host Lynn Johnson, a member of the Opera Board. Thank you so much, folks. Thank you.