Ulrica Spews Forth

After taking the summer off Ulrica is back, relaxed and refreshed and with renewed rancor.

SHAME!

Word quickly got around that the Supers are not listed in the program for this season's Tosca and an advance copy of the program confirmed that. Maybe it was an accidental oversight and we'll get an insert for the performances (like the Children's Chorus did last season) but really, how hard is it to remember to include these things? And it isn't as though anyone could forget there are Supers in this one. Heads would no doubt roll if a name were omitted from any of the twelve pages of donors. Our commitment is large (50 � 60 hours per show) and our expectations low, but getting our names in the program is one of them and it means a lot to us that we get it.

Super listing aside, someone should do a serious quality check on the SFO programs. The covers have become hideous, the paper stock is shabby, the graphics contrived, the artist-profile photos very dated (and don't include the comprimari who are also members of the chorus). And whatever happened to production photographs? �We're cutting costs� would no doubt be the knee-jerk reply but Ulrica assumes that Phantom of the Opera paid dearly for its full-page color ad. Or how about going back to charging patrons a few bucks per program? That way we might get a staple job that outlasts the performance.

On the plus side, however, Kip Cranna's illuminating program notes are always a pleasure to read.

SFO Firsts

Congratulations in advance to the beautiful and friendly maestra Sara Jobin when, at the November 7th performance of Tosca, she will become the first woman to conduct a main-season, main-stage performance at the San Francisco Opera (!!); an occasion not to be missed. But if you do she will also conduct a performance of Der Fliegende Holländer on December 1st.

And can it be true that there are no gay Supers in a John Copley production? (Even the dresser is straight!) Hard to believe but it appears to be the case in this season's Traviata. Of course things would have been different had Ulrica not been fired from that opera�

She Wondered Aloud�

Although Ulrica would never question such things, her evil twin Stregata has been going around making impolite noises about certain SFO policies. �Can anyone explain,� she slurred, �the thing about Supers and rehearsals?� Seems she is confused about who gets to miss rehearsals (and performances) and keeps their part and who doesn't. �And how long are we going to be told we don't fit costumes that we've worn before?�

Still Searching for Costumes that Fit

�Stregata, dear,� I purred, �sylphlike as you are, a lot can happen to a body in a few years. Besides I know that those lovely folks in wardrobe are, even at this very late hour, searching for a �costume that fits.'� With that, Stregata threw me a curse and went back to finishing her foaming Venomous Toad and Wolf's Bane cocktail.

Over a delicious dim sum lunch with recent Spearhead interviewee Laurel Winzler, Ulrica got the lowdown on a few things, both local and further afield. First off was a clipping from The St. Petersburg Times showing details of a proposed addition to the Mariinsky Theatre in the former Leningrad. What at first appeared to be a small-scale IM Pei add-on, turned out to be, on closer inspection, a gigantic malignant growth attached to the rear of the pretty theater. Grounds for another Cold War? We think so�

Then La Winzler brought up a very salient point regarding parking for Supers. Seems the administration has contracted with a new, rather aggressive lot of parkers and they are charging everyone to use it (a very famous soprano apparently gets hit for $2 per show). Union rules apparently make the chances of even paid parking privileges for Supers little or none, but does the House relish the idea of us risking life and limb to park for late calls on dodgy Gough Street? Even Ulrica's broomstick has been broken into right there, just two blocks from the stage door.

Ex-employee Sightings

Many ex-employees of SFO are much missed and one is usually very happy to see them. Such was the case when Ulrica bumped into two once-prominent backstage ladies (one famous for very frizzy hair and ursine temperament, the other for directing the infamous �Triumphal Milling Around� during the 2001 Aida) on Franklin Street during the summer season. A cheerful �how are things going in New York?� was met with silence and supercilious glares and Ulrica was left with the feeling that a better question would have been �Things not working out on the East Coast, girls?�

Aerial Maneuvers

All had a good time at Opera in the Park, but wasn't Renée Fleming supposed to be there? She wasn't much missed by this correspondent, who chose to see Prince perform in San Jose the night of the poorly named "Viva La Diva" gala. After reports of an underwhelming "Casta Diva" during the first half, we think that was probably a wise choice. Renee seems determined to be the new Cheryl Studer and forego her natural talent for Mozart and Strauss to misguidedly sing everything, including the bel canto repertoire; this despite the reception she got for her La Scala Lucrezia Borgias a few seasons back and an overdecorated vanity production of Il Pirata at the Met last year.

However, the real bel canto thing, trouper and all-time record holder for OITP attendance, beloved soprano Ruth Ann Swenson, was there and gamely sang the aria from Adriana Lecouvreur � twice! � when the noise from a lost helicopter drowned out her pianissimo first time around. Brava!

Seems that General Director Pamela Rosenberg lightens up in adversity. During the circling helicopter "crisis" she was funnier than we've ever heard her and really rose to the occasion; having the on-site photographer look through his telephoto lens to identify the helicopter, contacting the FAA and the SFPD and discovering that the hapless South Bay pilot was looking for the Dave Matthews Band concert going on elsewhere in GG Park that afternoon. No doubt the sea of "Bravo" signs and the full orchestra failed to register and the mass of "�Go Away!"-waving arms were seen as signs of welcome and encouragement.

It was also suggested that voters in San Francisco's District Seven vote against one clueless Dr. Milton �Rennie� O'Brien who thought it good politics to send a noisy light aircraft flying a �Vote O'Brien� banner back and forth over a field full of Opera Queens. If only the misguided O'Brien campaign manager was running Bush/Cheney's�

Rolando Villazón

And one can't help wondering if Pamela's exuberant �¡Viva Mexico!� on introducing star-of-the-show tenor sensation Rolando Villazón was perhaps encouraged by a margarita or two? I have to say that I think it is a great shame that Pamela won't be renewing her contract: she seems to be settling nicely into the role of the Mrs. Thatcher of San Francisco Opera. Not only that but after a couple more seasons we would have expected to see a few Pamela Rosenberg drag queens, come Halloween � the biggest compliment this town has to offer.

Seen pushing opera publicity material at OITP were Supers Bruce McNaughton, Kristina Kling, Walküre-attired Kimberly Thompson, and Priscilla Lore, who was breathlessly photographed with the dashing Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Tom Carlisle and Lynn Meinhardt were among the Supers joining Sally Warren (who had arrived at 7:30 that cold and foggy morning) at the Super picnic site, just a few feet from the stage. Also working the SFO ticket booth was the delightful and hard-working Opera Guild lady with the oversized spectacles who deserves more recognition for her efforts.

Oh, Why, Oh, Why, Oh, Did I Ever Leave Ohio?

That's the question Bruce McNaughton must be asking himself as he prepares to leave for Dayton in November. He had lived there for ten years prior to moving to the Bay Area and has just bought a condo there. He bemoans the upcoming dearth of good food and supering opportunities but we will be giving him a Buca di Beppo send-off at 6:30 on Wednesday October 20th. It's bound to be another blast in the tradition of the Albert Goodwyn and Oliver Pollard farewell "do"s.

Bruce has already made contact with the Dayton Opera and hopes to pick up a role in Tosca there very soon.

Speaking of Mr. Pollard, another, once overactive Super was at a Hollywood lunch party hosted by the Masquers Club a few weeks ago and mentioned, in passing, his involvement with SFO. Immediately afterwards a fellow by the name of Aaron Kinkaide came up to him and said �I wonder if you know a friend of mine who just moved to Michigan�� Seems that Aaron and Oliver go way back, were once roommates and that Oliver would be passing through LA very soon and meeting up with him. Any news from Oliver?

Ulrica has been bumping into quite a few Super emereti these past few weeks, including witty Bill Roehl and John Atkinson, who is fondly remembered for his hilarious cartoons of Halberd Goodwyn Spear and the life of an SFO Super. And did anyone see ex-Super Cap'n Todd Calvin this past fortnight? He had promised to be here for the Traviata dress but nothing more was heard.

Ulrica passed up the chance to listen to hear her dear friend Licia Albanese hold forth about an opera very close to her heart, Madama Butterfly, at PALM last Thursday. Rumor still has it that Licia, dressed in Cio-Cio-San drag, sang "Un Bel Di" on the stage of the Old Met as the wreckers' ball first hit, which may not be true but photographs of her kissing the stage at the Closing Gala do exist.

Instead Ulrica attended the final dress for testosterone-filled Billy Budd.

The opera has been boldly reset on an airy, whitewashed sun deck, overlooking tranquil Lake Tahoe, with Captain �Starry� Vere's claustrophobic below-deck quarters brilliantly re-conceived as a vast, sparsely furnished, fluorescent-lit recreation hall. The intriguing, faux-marble-finished sliding flats suggested an update to the 1980s, and the Seattle grunge costumes on Chorus and Supers would support that. Once again, all color has been bleached from the production lest there be any unwelcome emotional responses to this beautiful opera.

Seems as though the director Sabine Hartmannshenn made few friends amongst the Supers with her persistent �Stop! Stop! Stop!� and for uttering the words that no Super should ever have to hear: �Extras to ze back, behind the chorus, in ze dark, please!� Immediately followed by �Vere are ze Supers? I cannot see any Supers��

And isn't it traditional for directors to stick around for Opening Night? Not so for Frau Hartmannshenn, who had flown back to her native Köln two days earlier.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Palazzo Farnese

Super rehearsals for Tosca started this weekend with what promises to be the funniest cast ever. Scarpia (Mark Delavan), the Sacristan (Mark Close), and Spoleta (Tony Laciura, the"The Clown Prince of Opera") have been cracking up the Super "agents" at rehearsals. Add that mischievous diva Carol Vaness to the mix and anything could happen.

And thank goodness we still have The Divine Sandra Bernhard on board. She will always be a source of good, clear direction, humor, encouragement and patience � no matter how long it takes us to remember our musical cues.

See you at the Traviata Bake Sale!