Coppelia

Went to a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago of George Balanchine's Coppelia at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Coppelia is a lifelike doll that is so beautiful that one of the men in the village falls in love with her much to the chagrin of a jealous girlfriend. Everyone dances and it work out in the end that the two actually get together and Coppelia ends up as a pile of lifeless limbs. Great.

However the real comedy came because what we were seeing was a dress rehearsal. So periodically we were taken completely out of the performance by a voice from above asking the guest conductor, Nathan, to adjust the music. I am guessing that the person we heard was either the stager or the director or someone like that but her requests started off small but then seemed more worrisome as the rehearsal went on.

She first began with, "A bit slower please Nathan." Repeated several times in about 15 minute intervals.

Which turned into, "A bit faster please Nathan."

Then finally and hilariously, "OK. Now split the difference Nathan."

But the best rehearsal moment came when we were all taken inside the doll maker's shop and someone has flung back a curtain to reveal the tiny room where Coppelia is sitting. Apparently however the curtain was not flung back nearly as much as it should have been because a very round, bearded, and generally scruffy looking stage hand waddles out and opens the curtain the rest of the way. It was this that made me decide that I only wish to attend rehearsals when I go to the ballet.