Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Ross Benoliel, Schaunard in La Boheme

This is my fifth production of La Bohème and I'm really excited to be here in Omaha working with such a great cast. For any opera novices out there, this is probably THE most accessible opera and you will have an amazing experience. Today we begin rehearsals at the Orpheum Theater. It's going to be great to see the house where we are performing and get on the stage for the first time.

The character I am playing is Schaunard, the musician. He is the bread winner in this group of struggling artists. When he makes his entrance in the first act he has a very interesting story to tell his friends.

A little side note: Schaunard can be a tricky role in terms of the stage "business". I make my entrance with bread, wine, cigars, gold coins, newspapers, and all types of food. In the period of 3 or 4 minutes, I explain how I came to get all of that stuff – and get rid of it so that I can also focus on singing in time with Maestro France and the orchestra!

Well, the story about how I got all this stuff is that I was hired by this rich old English man who wanted me to play my violin to kill his parrot!! Unbelievable, right? Well the violin playing didn't work...I had to do something else, but you are going to have to see the show to see how it all turned out.

You will be sorry if you miss this performance, because you will hear how great it was from everyone who comes! Get your tickets today before it's sold out!

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