#metopera

Opéra Garnier

[...] He (Norman Ayrton) told her that she must learn to fall - to fall flat on her back without tension or fear. "I can't," she said - as always. "Don't ever say that again, I'm sick of you saying 'I can't'," - at which she looked tearful. He had no hesitation about bullying and abusing her till she wept because he had quickly learnt that if she wept, it was because she felt that she had failed him - and would then redouble her efforts to do as he asked. Gradually her interpretation of Agathe grew more feasible and dramatic. She even learnt to fall and thereafter loved doing it. Indeed, having learnt, she would sway, become utterly limp and then crash backwards on to the floor at the slightest encouragement. She learnt to move with the beginnings of that peculiar, gliding swoop and run which, years later, she was to employ with such devastating effect in the Mad Scene of Lucia di Lammermoor. [...] Excerpt taken from Russell Braddon's biography on Joan.

she's so cute 🥺

Tatiana Troyanos as Countess Geschwitz

*To all professionals in the film, television, theatre, entertainment and arts world—join the challenge to post a photo of you at your job. The goal is to flood social media with our profession. Copy the text and post a picture.* . I’ve been missing my job a lot lately. On March 12th, I was doing daywork at the Metropolitan Opera and had just finished a complicated pre set when we got the news that the opera house had to close. I remember being too shocked to feel anything while I went around and took apart all the work I had just finished and closed the dressing rooms. It’s been months now and I still can’t quite put it all into words. . People in the arts industry are so tenacious, so effervescent, and so endlessly passionate about what they do. The actors, dancers, singers, artists, and backstage colleagues I’ve met are some of the absolute fiercest, dedicated, and deeply compassionate people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. These jobs are HARD. They are physically and mentally draining. We put on a show and test our limits because we unconditionally love what we do. For us to have our sense of purpose and our very center taken away like this, for an indefinite period of time—it is truly disheartening. Everyone has their story of how long and how hard they worked to get to where they are in the industry today. And by no shortcoming of our own, we are collectively unemployed for a largely unknown amount of time. For many of us, there may not even be a job to come back to when things are able to safely reopen. . This post made me realize that I have no good pictures of myself at work, but I wanted to do the challenge anyway. So here is a merry little assemblage of selfies and backstage pictures from Phantom and the Met. If you took the time to read my little novel here, please sign the petition in my bio regarding top priorities for entertainment workers during COVID-19. Please support us so we can return to work strong and bring back the shows, films, and music we all treasure. . . . . @iatselocal764 @iatse #savethearts #extendpua #unionstrong #wardrobedresser #broadway #metopera #local764 #wardrobe #wearamask #costume #wardrobedepartment (at Majestic Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCmm8aeB0cd/?igshid=1hkl9dwvcknhr

Love the backstage love 😻