Monterchi

     After a couple days of rehearsals with the orchestra, the principles of the opera piled into one rental car and a taxi to view the Monterchi venue the night before. The opera was to take place on a little stage outside the museum of the Madonna del Parto by Pierro della Francesca. The views from this city, which is on a mountain, are amazing. We were surrounded by fields of sunflowers, tobacco, wheat, and beautiful old buildings. The colors were amazing, and temperature was perfect. The stage itself was a bit rickety, but we walked through each number and we made it work. There was a landing and stairs that a person could descend on the right and left sides. The stairs were going to be lined with candles tomorrow night. I sure it will e lovely, but I hope our dresses do not get to close to the flames. The energy of the cast was high and we were all pretty silly. My favorite part was when the count asked for forgiveness the countess rolled her eyes and walked off stage. At the end, we sang through the finale and added a can-can dance and did the do-si-do. The weather in Italy has been a bit strange. There has been quite a bit of rain in Tuscany. There are some concerns about the performance tomorrow being rained on, but we have hope that the weather will hold. Notice I said rained on and not out, because we are set to sing no matter what happens.