Portland Opera

The Addams Family in Portland

| Aaron McConnell

The Keller Auditorium has a fun show this weekend.  This past Wednesday I joined my family on opening night of The Addams Family Musical.  My 4 year old son loved it and so did my 13 year old.  I enjoyed it, too, and the Uncle Fester sketch  below is from my favorite number, “The Moon and Me.”  It captures the dark strangeness of the Addams’ vibe while offering up a unique spectacle that would make Jim Henson proud.  That’s all I’ll give away.

AddamsFamily_Fester_RGB

When the daylight ends and the moon ascends,
I would rather be just the moon and me.
When I feel her pull, then my heart is full.
And the night is softly, sweetly calling:
“Fester, look and see.”

La la la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la
It’s a dream that’s coming true
when the moon says “I love you”.

Though I’m told it’s wrong
when I sing my song
she accepts, she attends
she believes, she befriends.

La la la la la la
(ohh la la la)
La la la la la
(ooh la la la)
La la la la la
(ooh la la la)
It’s a dream that’s coming true
when the moon says “I love you”.

How it can feel when love is real.

-Lyrics to The Moon And Me by Kevin Chamberlin

 

Portland Opera Presents…

| Aaron McConnell

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  This version has been updated by the stage director and self-proclaimed “bad boy of opera,” Christopher Alden.  I was invited to the rehearsal the other night (lucky!) and contributed the following drawings.  There are two more productions of Don Giovanni in Portland this weekend, November 8th and 10th.

“Why you take everything so serious, Aaron?”  Good question, Joker.  Funnier drawings by Portland cartoonists can be found here.

Turandot is Icy Hot!

| Aaron McConnell

Turandot is currently playing at the Portland Opera tonight, Sunday, Thursday, and next Saturday.  I found this production to be extremely rich and layered in sound and visuals.  I saw the show on Jan 31st during a most unprecedented 3rd invitation to sketch during the rehearsal.  I designed a comic cover for my submission to the Opera blog, and as a special bonus here I added scans of some the sketches I did during the rehearsal.  Thanks for looking!

Additional Turandot artwork by PDX cartoonists can be found here:  http://www.portlandopera.org/operas/2010-2011/turandot#images

Portland Opera’s Hansel and Gretel

| Aaron McConnell

The good folks at the Portland Opera invited cartoonists back to another drawing session.  This time we watched the rehearsal of Hansel and Gretel.  In comparison to Pagliacci, this one seemed to move a lot faster, or rather the performers were moving faster around the stage.  Hansel and Gretel were especially spritely.  Very entertaining to watch, but a greater challenge to sketch.  I tried to follow best I could while sketching down details, but don’t be surprised if you find some inaccuracies in my brief retelling and the actual opera.   The Portland Opera puts on very entertaining shows and I encourage anyone reading this to catch Hansel and Gretel while it’s playing.  There are 3 more shows, tomorrow’s matinee and Nov 11th and 13th.  I found it truly inspiring and certainly entertaining.  I’m a novice to opera, but I’m getting bit by the bug, and the Portland Opera knows how to scratch it.

Portland Opera, The Best!

| Aaron McConnell

I participated in a unique event put together by the Portland Opera www.portlandopera.org on Sept. 2oth.  Local cartoonists were invited to draw during the rehearsal of Pagliacci and Carmina Burana.  What an experience!  Sometimes the life of the cartoonist is the good life.  I did some sketches and a two page comic recollection of the evening.  I didn’t get a chance to give Carmina Burana any attention in my comic pages since we had just a couple days to put our drawings together, but hopefully the rehearsal sketches give you some idea (although I mainly sketched the performers who were standing still … the elegance of  the dancers will make you swoon and they move much faster than my pen!)