Was this not the most fabulous entrance ever? Lindsay Ohse in her first entrance as Armida

Cory Weaver/Portland Opera

We closed Rinaldo Saturday night. It was bittersweet for all of us; we'd all really fallen in love with the show, and we also hated to say goodbye to our conductor, Gary Wedow, and our former Resident Artist soprano, Sharin Apostolou. But that's the business! We always have to say goodbye.

We're all tired and there's a ton to wrap up (heartbreakingly, all those Rinaldo parts I so carefully crafted have to be disassembled and returned to the publisher). But I wanted to take a minute to share a few miscellaneous Rinaldo items before we put Handel away for awhile.

Fun facts

The boat

Cory Weaver/Portland Opera

The tiny boat that appears at the top of Act II, which sails across the top of the set and, it turns out, is attached to Armida's hair, was a big hit with the audience. It's one of my favorite scenes -- I love stage magic! But do you know a crazy thing? That boat wasn't just stuffed into Lindsay's wig during the Act I intermission. The boat had its own wig.

Rinaldo rehearsals are mostly finished now. We had a very grueling last 7 days -- I personally worked an 80 hour week and I know the production staff did the same -- but now the show is fully on its feet, and might I say, it is SO MUCH FUN. There might have been a moment during last night's piano dress rehearsal -- the first time we get full costumes, makeup, wigs, and (for the most part) lighting -- when I actually leaped out of my chair in excitement. (I was up in the spot booth running supertext so it wasn't too disruptive). I won't tell you what caused me to do it because it would ruin a tremendously wonderful moment for you, but guys: this show is so cool.

As you can imagine, we are all pretty tired by this point, yours truly included, so I only want to talk a little bit today about what you can expect to hear during our performances of Rinaldo. Most of the arias you will hear in this opera are in ABA format. In the A section, you hear the 'main' melody, in which the singer sings the main idea, with 'idea' being both musical and textual in nature. Then you hear the B section, which frequently changes, say, to the minor key relative of the A section's major key. The text of the B section is frequently in contrast to the A section: a character's waffling back and forth between ideas. Then the A section returns.