The art of chorus acting

From Eric Hale:

Let’s get this out of the way: I know there are people who think the words acting and opera do not belong in the same sentence. However, the standards for performance in opera have evolved a lot in the last half century. It’s not been enough to walk out on stage and just sing for a long time.

Part of the problem is the constraints of opera force a certain stylization. For example: Unlike musical theater, where you may be miked, you can’t really turn away from the audience while singing. The need to sing affects your facial expression to a degree and proper breath support makes some postures impractical.

It’s also true that there are some very bad actors singing opera. However, there are some very bad actors who, somehow, get cast just to act. You can’t judge the entire field by cherry picking a few bad examples. I can tell you, having seen our principals in action, that they take the acting part of their performance very seriously.

However, this post is not about the principals. Today, I’m talking about acting in the chorus. I’m not even going to get close to finishing this topic, but let’s make a start.

As with all actors, the members of the chorus spend time developing their characters. We read about the history of the period and write the back story on our character. We decide what our relationships will be with the other characters on stage. We react to the action on stage and find ways to be part of the action of stage – a discrete part of the action true, but involved.

We have to respect the realities of being in the chorus. For example, we are frequently blocked as a group. When you enter or exit with 20 other people, your options are more limited. Also, it’s wrong to try to steal a scene during a principal’s big moment. This is not about egos; it’s about being fair to the audience. There is a structure to the show. If you are distracting the audience during a famous aria, you may well have ruined the entire scene for them. Remember, for much of the time, you are background. We need to look believable if an audience member should look at us, but know that much of the time they will not be.

There are opportunities to be creative though. When Capital Opera did La traviata last year, I was in a group which was supposed to get up and move across stage so that the scene was clear for the principal action. The motion felt really unmotivated to me. Wayne was directing that show, and I asked him if it would be OK to have someone make me move. Wayne said yes, so I asked Tom Link to help. In addition to his bass voice, Tom towers over my 6 feet, which really helped motivate the movement. After we played with the action some, Tom and I had filled a relatively down moment with something interesting.

By the way, Tom is playing Zuniga in Carmen.

My compliments to those who recognized the title of this entry as a pun on Michael Green’s book The Art of Coarse Acting. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone who loves theater or just loves a good laugh.