Die Zauberflöte

Hello, everyone!
   I told you I had some exciting news. In addition to The Impresario's Dilemma, the HPAF is performing Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Guess what? I'm the Assistant Stage Manager!
  So far this job is pretty neat. I am in charge of props, sets, and singers. I let the singers know when their scene is coming up. I tell the set movers when to change the set. I also run around like crazy backstage, hissing things like "where's the rope? Who has the portrait? Hey! Where did Papageno go?" I also get to hang out with the opera singers. That's my favorite part.
   I think that Rick, the Stage Manager, is getting kind of frantic - it's less than a week to the performance now, and a lot of the singers still have their noses buried in their books. We are still blocking out the whole thing - telling the singers where to move when they are onstage, which side to come on from, when to pick up the pillow, etc. I have to write all that down just in case Rick forgets what he said. 
   One more thing - I have a new poll over to the left of this post. See if you can figure out which opera is my new favorite before the poll closes!

A New Opera

Buon Giorno!
   I haven't written anything in a LONG time, but I just got back from an opera and wanted to tell you about it. The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival is active every year in July. They do concerts and opera performances at the HPA theater and chapel. The performance I saw was called "The Impresario's Dilemma." It was a collection of pieces from all sorts of operas and composers, from Handel to Puccini, and it was loosely based on a Mozart opera called "The Impresario."
   The plot was very basic: an impresario (a person who organizes performances for an opera theater) is looking for the perfect diva to sing in their opera. Seven ladies arrive to audition. They start getting catty (pardon the pun), and break into Rossini's Cat Duet, arranged for seven voices. The impresario calls the divas up one at a time to audition. The first soprano sings a Handel aria. As she starts to sing the second half, the impresario loudly says "thank you," and the soprano stalks indignantly offstage. During another soprano's aria, she starts flirting with the impresario's assistant. She steals his watch and runs away. 
   After every diva has auditioned, the impresario makes his decision. "All of you have done well," he tells the divas, "and so you will all be in the opera!" The divas gasp. Who will get the lead role? The assistant hands them their parts. The singers look at the music and discover... that they are in the chorus!!! The opera ends with the divas chasing the impresario offstage and hitting them with their chorus music.
   I was very impressed with the whole performance. The music was well-chosen, and the opera singers are all extremely talented. I will write again soon with some more exciting news!

P.S: Here is my favorite version of Rossini's Cat Duet. All they sing is "meow."