Weathervane Playhouse

July 13 - 22, 2017

Directed by:  Kevin Connell

Scenic Designer:  Jeremy Hollis

Costume Designer:  Madison Booth

Lighting Designer:  Dylan Bombardner

 

 

A Comedy of Tenors is the sequel to Lend Me a Tenor.  Familiar characters from the first piece come together again in this sequel.  A stadium full of screaming fans eagerly await the appearance of a famous tenor.  In a luxurious hotel room, we have slamming doors, mistaken identities, multiple wives and surprise girlfriends, and even more tenors.

 

Like other comedic pieces I have designed, I started with focusing my effects on enhancing the comedic moments.  Even a practical phone ringer can punctuate a moment in a very comedic way.  In this piece, I got to create several practical sound sources on stage, including a robust phonograph and radio.  The soundscape of Paris would drift in through the radio.  Redirecting actor voices from one door to the next was a fun challenge to create and program.  The end of the piece has the crowd clamoring for the tenors, and the celebratory sounds of finally hearing them sing.

 

The culmination of the play is a quick 3-minute summary of the entirety of the story performed at the conclusion.  All the lighting looks and sounds have to pop in and out in quick succession.  The director and I tried out a few selections of operatic music to try and find the right underscore for this moment.  In the end we settled on the overture to Carmen, which provided the right energy for the summary, and helped punctuate the crazy madcap shifts from one moment to the next.