Lillian Alling Set Up In Time Lapse

Here's a neat little time-lapse video of the technical set up for Lillian Alling.


Video credit: Tom Wright, Director of Artistic Planning

Shot during tech week down at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, you can see the staging of props, the different visual projections, the blocking of lights and all the general craziness involved in bringing an opera to the stage.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Pin Me, Tuck Me, Shape Me, Fit Me

Here's some video clips of hands-on designer Sue Lepage from the Lillian Alling wardrobe fitting a couple of weeks ago. She sketches, she designs and she was present for all the fittings.

Oh, and Sue designed the Lillian Alling set and props too. She's creative and multi-talented and we're thankful to have her with us for Lillian Alling.







~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Alling: Props

Head of Props Valerie Moffat has been sourcing props for Lillian Alling these past few months, while Production Assistant Gregg Steffansen has been building or customizing them.

Working with props, an attention to detail is a must. Everything has to look authentic to the time period being portrayed.

For example, labels on tin cans will be ripped off and photocopies of vintage labels glued on in Lillian Alling. There'll be no Chef Boyardee labels here.



As a goodly portion of the opera takes place in the great outdoors, you'll see pick-axes, canteens, picnic baskets and rucksacks.

What you won't see, however, is Valerie's dog on stage. Rupert, who was visiting that morning, was too adorable for me to pass up on taking a picture. Although the real Lillian Alling may have travelled with a dog, our stage production will not include such a travelling companion.


I am not a prop

To take a look at some more of the Lillian Alling props, press play or click here for our Flickr.



~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Project Unto Me III

Here are some more visual projection awesomeness from video designer Tim Matheson.

These photos, taken in a couple of weeks ago when the production crew were in Banff, are the first life-sized shots of the projections. Previously, we only had available photos of the projections on model sets, as seen here and here.

Click to see each photo-set.















If you think the projections look good here, just wait until you see it in the theatre!

To see each photo individually, click here for our Flickr.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Lillian Alling: The Look

VO's Wardrobe Superviser Parvin Mirhady and her team of 6 have been busy these past few months. The wardrobe department has been cutting and sewing up a storm in order to create 200 the outfits needed for Lillian Alling. Half of the outfits were custom made, while the other half were purchased from second hand stores such as Value Village and then customized for that 1920s era look.


Parvin Mirhady and designer Sue Lepage going over some costume drawings

When asked which was harder, creating costumes for Nixon in China or Lillian Alling, Parvin said Lillian was definitely more challenging. Not only does Lillian have more costumes, but each piece has more individual styling, whereas the uniforms in Nixon were very much identical repeats.


Nixon in China costumes


Lillian Alling costumes

Fittings were held a couple of weeks ago when designer Sue Lepage was in town. Within just 4 days, 40 principals & chorus members, 8 supernumeraries and 4 children were seen for their one-time fitting. That's some heavy traffic going in and out of the wardrobe department.



And if you love vintage-style hats, you're in for a treat as everyone on Lillian Alling will be outfitted in cloche hats, straw hats, homburg hats and flat caps. A profusion of hats everywhere.



From leisure wear, to rugged outdoor clothing and immigrant clothing of that era, Lillian Alling will give you a glimpse of the very diverse styles of the late 1920s.

But if you can't wait until opening night, press play on the slideshow or click here to go to our Flickr.



~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Updates From Banff

What a fabulous two days of rehearsal we have had as we bring Lillian Alling to life. The work on the set with Stage Director Kelly Robinson and our Irene, Judith Forst and Jimmy, Roger Honeywell has been wonderful.

It is very rare in opera to have a chance to rehearse on the set but with our co-production with The Banff Centre, we are doing just that.



The set is designed by Sue LePage and is full of wonderful levels, stairs, angles and a pick-up truck!

This production incorporates a large video design which local Vancouver designer, Tim Matheson is working on here. Having the chance to look at content and begin to make cues is something we would have had to work into the wee hours of the morning during our tech week in Vancouver to achieve. We are using six projectors for both front and rear projections that will help us tell the journey the Lillian Alling takes.



The exploration and discovery that we have had in these first two days will continue with the rest of the cast until next week. All this will make the world premiere of this wonderful new opera even more special.

~ Tom Wright, Director of Artistic Planning

Photo credit: Tom Wright

Project Onto Me II

The Lillian Alling production crew is hard at work in Banff right now. Here are more video projection goodness from designer Tim Matheson.

An award-winning projection designer, photographer, videographer, Tim Matheson has used the projection of imagery as an element of the set design in over 100 designs for theatre, opera and dance.


Scene 1: home


Scene 3: tenement stairs


Scene 8: at the park


Scene 8: telegraph wires I


Scene 8: telegraph wires II


Scene 9: Oakalla Prison


Scene 10: Vancouver streets


Scene 13: green screen climb


Scene 14: down by the river

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Photo credit: Tim Matheson

Lillian Alling Set Models

Our Director of Production, Terry Harper, came back from Banff a couple of weeks ago and instead of bringing us touristy t-shirts, he bought us pictures of the Lillian Alling set models.











Terry returns to Banff this week and the next time he returns, he'll be bringing the real life sets back with him!

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Alling Idea Boards

Here's a couple of idea boards sketched by Lillian Alling designer Sue LePage.

The first illustration shows Act 1, Scene 8: Scotty Macdonald appears in his cabin on Telegraph Trail tapping out messages to his fellow linemen.

The second illustration depicts Act 2, Scene 1: Vancouver waterfront, spring 1928. Vancouverites take shelter under umbrellas and awnings.

Double click image for full-size drawing.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Project Onto Me

Tim Matheson is an award-winning projection designer, photographer, videographer and multi-media producer. His first foray into live theatre was in 1987 with Vancouver's Fringe Festival. It was at that festival that Tim first used projections as an element of set design. Since then, Tim has been much in demand, having worked over 100 performances in theatre, dance and opera.

And we have him for Lillian Alling.

Here's your first peek at Tim's projections on designer Sue Lepage's set.


The Land is Large


The Land is Large


Ellis Island


Ellis Island


Landscape


Map set


Inverted map


New York Street


New York Street


Vancouver Street


Vancouver Stanley Park

Does it make you feel like you've traveled back to 1927?

More projections to come. Stay tuned.

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Blogging From Banff

In Banff to check up on the status of the set build and scenic painting.

The production is taking shape and it is very exciting to be here to see it.

The carpenters, welders and painters are all working very hard.

In this new opera, a large part of the story is told in and around a pick-up truck.



As you see in the picture the truck is being mounted onto a mechanism that will allow the truck to make it’s stage entrance and exit without too much difficulty and will be controlled by the crew. The singers will not need to worry about the truck at all.



The scenic paint crew is busy working on the large deck. It is being textured by rolling on a thick paste similar to flexible roof compound, over top of burlap. The burlap is removed and it leaves a rippled texture. Then scenic painter can begin painting over top of the dried board.

We are luck that the Banff Centre has joined VO in co-producing this great new opera. Our relationship with Banff is allowing us to rehearse for a short time on the set in the Eric Harvie Theatre at the Banff Centre. This will give the singers a wonderful chance to get used to the set before we get into the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

~ Tom Wright, Director of Artistic Planning

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to...

Earworm! Ok, time to stop humming TLC in my head and focus on what's at hand.

Taken by our projectionist Tim Matheson, this model is your first peep at what one of our Lillian Alling scenes will look like. Keep in mind, it's a work in progress, but there's no doubt our world premiere will induce all sorts of "wow!"

Doesn't this make you want to head to a lake right now?

~ Ling Chan, Social Media Manager

Lillian Alling Set Build

Our heroine Lillian Alling covers a lot of ground in our upcoming opera of the same name, from Ellis Island to North Dakota to Vancouver to the Telegraph Trail. So how are we going to reveal this journey on stage? That’s where our ingenious set designer Sue LePage comes in!




Sue first joined the creative team in May 2009 and attended our fourth creation workshop to get a feel for the libretto and music. Following much research, design meetings with the creative team, and attending further workshops in Banff that summer and Vancouver in December, she presented this preliminary set model.



Each of the stair units move, allowing for the creation of new looks to transport us, the audience, to a multitude of locations. A key component of the design includes multiple video screens that will dramatically deliver us from the streets of New York City in the 1920s to the vast prairies and beyond.

Once the preliminary set design and build budget were approved by VO’s production team, Sue met again with stage director Kelly Robinson, videographer Tim Matheson and Director of Production Terry Harper in March 2010 to run through the opera scene by scene and start fine tuning each look.



In July, the build began in Banff! Which elements of the set do you think they are building first? Your guess is as good as mine…





~ Jennifer Lord, Special Projects Manager