Hats Off to Broadway! with Lizzie Hatfield

Lizzie Hatfield is my go-to girl and co-conspirator for Mozart Project, having done the make-up and hair for nearly half of my Mozart Project photos. First and foremost she is a musician and theater performer, which I believe is why she is so in synch with my project. Go big or go home, am I right? Recently, she has been asked to Music Direct an Off-Broadway musical for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and is holding a concert and fundraiser in Missoula Montana (Aug 27, 28 2011) and Cut Bank Montana (Aug 24, 2011).

Lizzie Hatfield, my good friend and art buddy, is going to New York and needs our help to get there! Photo by Evan Thompson

While working on my project, Lizzie has not only done hair and make-up, she has also helped me with finding locations and reflecting light using the reflector board (a noble duty), but most importantly, she has fed and housed me and my models whenever we shoot with her!

My shoots with Lizzie are usually large or span weekends, and she always feeds the models whatever food they desire, always asking them if they have any preferences. Bacon, Apple and Cheese sandwiches with roasted onion mayonnaise? Check. An entire gluten free meal for the gluten intolerant, including Grilled chicken and potato salad? Got that covered! Thai take-out? If she doesn’t get it, her husband will! She even maintains a cooking blog called “The House of Hatfield” which chronicles her most successful culinary delights!

In this “Where’s Waldo” of Lizzie images from our Mozart Project, you will find her doing hair (Top Left: "Il Sogno di Scipione" with Jerry), showing up the models when I give the direction “smile” (Top Right: "Figaro" crew), holding a reflector board (Bottom Left: "Zaide", Arri and Jenna) , and taking a picture of Maria’s right eyebrow (Bottom Right: "Abduction").

Lizzie’s many talents include getting hair to stick straight up and stay there, creating entire make-up designs from my obscure phrases like “Fugitive Princessy” and “Just on the verge of looking like he’s wearing make-up”, supplying Jewelry during a Jewelry shortage, spilling booze on the reflector board, entertaining us by making her very loud cat do a kitty-cat dance, and a complete comic inability to paint different shaped lips over existing lips (Which I’m glad to say she overcame on our last shoot).

Lizzie Hatfield has participated in numerous Mozart Project photos doing hair and make-up, as well as finding locations and baking, which you can see in these two "Cosi Fan Tutte images". She has also modeled as Fiordiligi (Bottom Left).

Because Lizzie has always supported me, I wanted to write a blog post about her, in hopes that my readers will support her while she raises money to get to New York and stays there for six weeks. While in New York, Lizzie will Music Direct the play “Blood” by the Mummers (Which also features Nora Gustuson who has modeled for Mozart Project). This August she is putting on a fundraiser in Montana (Missoula and Cut Bank) called “Hats Off to Broadway”, a musical revue which features all the best Broadway songs about New York, and stars Lizzie, Kendra Syrdal (another Mozart Project participant) and Dylan Rodwick. The show will be performed in Missoula Montana (Aug 27, 28 2011) and Cut Bank Montana (Aug 24, 2011). Along with the fundraiser and concert, Lizzie is holding a raffle featuring art from Montanan artists to be drawn at the final “Hats Off to Broadway” show, and she will be accepting donations throughout her entire trip.

"Hats Off to Broadway" cast - Lizzie Hatfield, Dylan Rodwick and Kendra Syrdal

The best way to get to know Lizzie is through her own words! In the following interview, Lizzie talks about Mozart Project, her trip to New York and how music has become such an important a part of her life!

You have worked with me on my Mozart project from the beginning. In your own words, what is the Mozart Project?

Lizzie: The Mozart project is an illustration of the Mozart operas using photography.  The style varies for each shoot, from steampunk to rococo to semi-modern.  It uses outrageous makeup, hair and costumes to create grandeur needed for such elaborate operas. Each shoot is extremely individual, from the lighting and sets to the visual effects and actors used.

What is your job on a typical Mozart Project shoot?

My main job on the shoots is to create the makeup and hairstyles according to Tyson’s vision. Sometimes he gives me a rough idea and I get to create the look on my own. Other times he has a very specific look in mind and brings multiple examples that I can pull inspiration from. However, my job usually doesn’t end at makeup and hair. I almost always help set up the shoot, scout locations, help actors with wardrobe and hold the light reflector. I have also housed actors, cooked food for everyone on the shoot and baked and decorated cakes and cookies for the set dressings of one shoot! I try to be as involved as possible.

Is there anything you especially enjoy about working on a shoot?

I love meeting and working with new people and seeing the vision come to life throughout the day. I have really enjoyed being with the project from the beginning and seeing it evolve. Its amazing how polished and sophisticated the photos have become over the last 5 years. For the first shoots, I was sort of doing trial and error when it came to the hair, as I had never created the crazy styles that Tyson was asking me to make. Some of the things I used to hold the hair into shape were ridiculous! One time I made a cage out of wire and pinned it to a girl’s head to hold her hair up… That didn’t work too well… It was so heavy that by the end of the shoot, her hair was sagging and drooping off her head. Not my finest achievement! But since then, I have come up with much more creative solutions to making hair defy gravity (Velcro rollers and hair glue!).  Since those first shoots, I’ve worked with wigs, hair extensions, hats, body jewels, spray-on hair color and even fake facial hair! 

Which is your favorite collaboration?

My favorite collaboration was probably the Marriage of Figaro, because of the sheer size of it. While I didn’t do all the hair and makeup (the duties were split with Elizabeth Dellwo), it was a full day of hair, make-up and shooting. There were very close-up shots, so everything had to be extremely precise. It was also one o the first times I had worked with wigs, and the one we used for Camille was huge! I also loved putting fake eyebrows on Wayne!  And the location was amazing.

The most proud I have been of any shoot is Zaide. I think those photos turned out beautifully. I created the hairstyle using her real hair and extensions… It was extremely detailed, but I thought that it was so polished.  I also loved how the jewels looked with her makeup.

This is Lizzie's favorite work on Mozart Project. Zaide by Tyson Vick, hair and make-up by Lizzie Hatfield.

Tell us about your trip to New York.

I am going to New York to music direct a show called Blood that was written by my friend Nora’s theatre company “[By the Mummers]“.  It will be playing as a part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival in October… It will mark both my New York AND Off-Broadway debut!

What does it mean to music direct?

The music director is in charge of pretty much everything pertaining to the music in a musical.  They help cast the show, making sure that everyone can handle the music and is vocally appropriate for the parts. They teach the music to the cast, from notes to expression to clarity of lyrics. They are sometimes in charge of hiring the band and are almost always involved in working with the band/orchestra on music. Sometimes music directors also conduct the show.  I usually play piano for the shows I music direct.

Lizzie Hatfield by Evan Thompson

How can we support you before or during your trip?

I am hosting a fundraiser during the last week of August.  It is a show that was conceived and directed by me, called “Hats Off to Broadway”. It is in the style of a musical review, including songs, dance and comedy. It will play in Cut Bank, MT on August 24th, (2011) and in Missoula, MT on August 27th and 28th, (2011). It should be an extremely fun night for everyone. Two of my friends are amazing performers and are in the show with me.  We are also hosting a raffle along with the show which features Montana art from Monte Dolack, Barbara Gerard-Mitchell, Wanda Rude and this blog’s own Tyson Vick! All donations are tax deductible and will be placed in a community benefit account to be used to offset the expenses of living in New York for six weeks.

What sorts of songs will you perform at your fundraiser “Hats Off to Broadway?”

We will be performing songs from a multitude of Broadway shows. The show has a story that follows three young people as they attempt to make it into Show Business in New York. There are comedy songs, a song written by me specifically for the show as well as some of the most famous songs celebrating New York and Broadway.

Will there be prizes?

First prize of the raffle includes a signed, limited edition, framed print by Barbara Gerard-Mitchell, a Monte Dolack poster, a hand-quilted bag by Wanda Rude and a set of Gilbert and Sullivan notecards by Tyson Vick. Second prize includes a Monte Dolack poster and Tyson Vick notecards. Third prize includes a Monte Dolack poster.

Nearly everything you do is interwoven with music. You Music Direct, accompany rehearsals and auditions, sing and act in musicals, teach dance, and weave your way into the art projects of others (like my Mozart Project) which are also based on, or in, the world of music. Can you tell us what music means to you and why you are so passionately drawn to it to involve it in so much of your life?

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been surrounded by music. I started singing at a very young age and began playing piano very young also. I love the way that music and lyrics can make you feel things that words alone can’t express. The fact the children can listen to instrumental music and explain the way it makes them feel is a great testament to how important music is in our lives from a young age. I surround myself with music all the time… It has become a part of my life that can’t be separated. It is interwoven with everything I do because it is what makes me happiest. I am so lucky to be able to have work that is so fulfilling.

Thank you Lizzie!

I hope you readers enjoyed this interview, and got to know a little more about my project and about Lizzie! Please support Lizzie on her trip if you can, and thank you all for reading!

 

To Learn More About the things discussed or featured in this post, here are some links:

• “Hats off to Broadway” Fundraiser: http://www.lizziehatfield.com/Lizzie/Hats_Off_to_Broadway.html
• Lizzie Hatfield website: http://www.lizziehatfield.com/Lizzie/Welcome.html
• New York Musical Theatre Festival: http://www.nymf.org/
• “Blood: the Musical” by the Mummers: http://www.bythemummers.com/bloodthemusical/
• Evan Thompson Photography: http://www.evanthompsonphotography.com/

You Can Help Places go places!

The Barker brothers are three musicians who have always been supportive of my Mozart Project and I thought I’d share some info about their bands’ new fund raising project. The brothers are in a band called “Places“, which is a rock band with seven members. Seven sexy and attractive members, I might add, because I know you’re wondering.

The Seven Sexy band-mates from Places: Drew, Brian, Tyler, Branden, Jordan, Jon, Checkers II

This summer, their band needs your help to record their new album, and then go on a charity tour (Reach Across America) across the Americas to play their music and gather Baseball (and other sports) equipment for less fortunate youngsters in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Youngsters who are, no doubt, sick of playing catch with sticks.

Each of the Barker brothers has appeared in my photos, Checkers and Branden in “La Finta Semplice”, and Drew in “Die Entfuhrung aus Dem Serail”

La Finta Semplice by Tyson Vick, Branden Barker on the top, Checkers Barker II on the bottom left with Jason.

Places, and the Barker brothers, would love your help. At the Places Fundraiser website, you can donate money to help them with their album and charity work!

http://www.placesband.com/fundraiser/

Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail by Tyson Vick, with Drew Barker in blue, and a bunch of other sexy people I’ll talk about later.

The best part of their fund raiser, however, is what you get in return for your donation.

Now, I’m not kidding here.

It starts out small and innocuous. For small donations you get mp3s and mp3 albums, which is cool.

But as the donations grow, you can get yourself some pretty awesome returns, including being wined-and-dined by all seven guys, going on movie dates with them, getting private concerts, and perhaps best of all, having barbecues with their parents. The websites worth visiting just to read what you can get in return for thousand dollar donations.

It’s pretty awesome.

Jason Lengstorf (Right), paragon of masculine beauty, points out the way to the Places Fund Raising website to Checkers Barker II, the drummer from the band. (Or, just an outtake from my La Finta Semplice Shoot. Either way is good.)

Before their trip to Central and South America, Places will be giving free concerts across North America, which, as their website states, will connect them with their fellow Americans through their music, and America’s favorite Pastime, ROCK! (Or maybe baseball. I don’t know. I’ve never really done sports, and the site doesn’t make it explicit.)

Finally, I’ll leave you with this Entfuhrung outtake!

Kiss the Barker. Touch the Barker. Donate funds.

• Following are some Places Links (Check ‘em out!):
• Places on Facebook
• Places on Myspace
• Places Album Fundraiser

Confuse your Mother. Irritate your Father. Listen to Opera.

When we think of opera, the first image that is usually conjured is one of enormously large, middle aged people yelling at each other. Sometimes with horned helmets. Is this an accurate depiction of opera?

Well, sadly, in the 1970s and 80s, the answer to that would have been “yes”. During this time, the enormously popular, and enormously talented, opera singers Lucianno  Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballe rose to power. You could find them on nearly any recording of any opera you cared to name. And, yes, both singers looked middle aged from the day they were born, and both were heavy set. And yes, these famous and popular singers were pretending to be teenagers falling in love, sexy temptresses , dashing heroes, and hardly anything at all like what they looked like in real life. (There were also other great singers who never looked quite right as teenagers, Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, etc.)

Every great album from this time features these plump, average-looking singers on the cover. Because this image of the opera singer is so recent, this is the one we are stuck with.

Great opera singers are fat and loud.

Two of the world's greatest opera stars, Caballe and Pavarotti, who never quite looked dramatically appropriate, but whose vocal talents are unrivaled.

Originally, however, any opera that was written, was written for an age appropriate and dramatically appropriate cast. Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” was written for a lively bunch of twenty year olds, Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” was written for an entirely age appropriate cast across the board. So why in the 70’s and 80’s could you find a 50 year old Don Giovanni, instead of a 21 year old Don Giovanni? When did Cleopatra become a fat 40 year old?

Well, part of it has to do with the fact that these famous singers had such amazing and unique voices, that the audience didn’t care so much what they looked like as long as they got to hear the amazing voices singing amazing music. This, of course, completely negates dramatic truth. No matter how convincing Montseratt Caballe’s performance was, no matter how nuanced her voice, it never completely worked dramatically.

Recently, on another blog, the author states that many people don’t like opera because the plots of opera are too “silly”. I disagree. That is not a valid excuse to not like opera. Consider the most popular blockbuster of the past few summers. It is about valiant alien-robot-cars defending Earth from the machinations of villainous-evil-alien-robot-cars.

People love it. People take it very seriously. How can opera — which on its weirdest day (Tales of Hoffmann) could have never touched on anything nearly as silly as Transformers –be considered the more silly of the two?

The answer lies in the fact that operas can be staged without dramatic or emotional truth by artsy or incompetent actors and directors.  Thus the operas lose their inherent value – their dramatic and emotional value. Drama cannot be successful without dramatic and emotional truth, and most modern opera productions do their damned dirty best to spoil it.

Mozart set in a whore house with nudity, urination, and rape? I don’t remember reading that play. Mozart featuring a mermaid singing on a swing while people wander around  aimlessly? Missed that opera. Mozart featuring the beheading of Neptune, Christ, Buddha and Mohammed? Something is clearly amiss, and not just because at least three of those people hadn’t been born when Idomeneo takes place.

Can anyone imagine “Gone with the Wind” starring 50 year olds, dressed as mermaids, killing Buddha in a whorehouse with a giant half-letter “E”? No? Well that’s because the idea is stupid. But when the copyright expires, all taste and common sense seem to go out the window. (By the way, click on the links in the phrases above if you have a good tolerance for bad taste.)

Pictures from two of the worst Mozart Productions ever to grace the stage. The vulgar and violent Seraglio set in a whore house, and the basically unexplainable murder of world deities in a head-scratching, eye-rolling, Idomeneo production.

So, if you’re new to opera in the 2000s, instead of the fat, middle-aged singers, in fairly appropriate, emotionally truthful productions of the 1970s-80s, you’re now faced with mermaids holding giant Sesame Street letters, killing off religious leaders. That’s to say, now both dramatic and emotional truth have been thrown out the window at the whim of the egoist directors, and opera, to say the least, has become extremely confusing (Or just plain bad).

Rest assured, however, that in the beginning, operas were straightforward plays – the most popular form of entertainment; The Hollywood of the day. Some operas were good, some bad, but all tried to achieve their own internal emotional and dramatic truth — just like our movies do today.

That’s why opera is better represented on recording than in the theaters these days. Stripped down to only the text and the music, we are allowed to experience the opera on and intimate and personal level.

It’s a sad truth, but also a welcome one, that recordings today are better than most productions. Recordings allow us to experience numerous different interpretations and utilize our own imaginations while experiencing the play. This process becomes more like reading a book than like experiencing a drama, however, and it takes time, which, I’m afraid is another reason people stay away from opera.

Climbing the mountain to enjoying opera:

1. Break the Language Barrier

Most operas come with books that feature translations to the original text in many different languages, meaning that you can, if you like, read along to find out what’s going on. However, a casual music listener will insist that they can’t truly enjoy the music if they don’t know what is being said just through listening.

Modern music listeners know the importance of understanding lyrics more than anyone, since how could anyone enjoy “Bad Romance” without a full comprehension of the lyrics “Ga ga, ooh, la la, rah rah, I need your bad romance” or the deep pathos behind the lyrics “Baby you’re a firework, Come on let your colors burst, Make ‘em go “Oh, oh, oh!“

I am being satirical here, simply because that’s the best way to show that good music, and popular music, does not need a coherent and well reasoned set of lyrics to move and entertain us. You don’t need to know what they’re saying to enjoy a song, however, you do in order to understand a drama, and the time it takes to comprehend that drama is the real reason modern music fans avoid opera.

The only thing missing is music. Transformers has more in common with opera than nearly any modern musical. For proof, take a look into Rinaldo (Handel), Idomeneo (Mozart), and Giustino (Vivaldi). Maybe the giant, explosion-inducing Monsters that take up entire quarters-of-an-hour of stage time will convince you...

2. Take the Time to Do it Well

Not everybody can read at the same rate. Not everybody has a full comprehension of what they’re reading. Now add to that an opera which will take around 3 hours to experience, and you have an instance where you have to have a desire to read an opera before you’re going to do it. The only way that desire will strike you, though, is if you have already experienced an opera. It’s like a Catch-22.

If you have any desire to know what’s going on in the music, you can’t be a casual opera listener.

3. Focus on Your Goal

“I can’t listen to things and read at the same time!”

Opera, in order to have a full effect over your senses, has to be experienced without constant interruption. It involves reading a text, interpreting that text in your imagination, and listening to what the composer and the singers are trying to convey.

This is the type of focus a person has to devote to reading a book, but with an extra sense thrown in. People who aren’t likely to read a book, are even less likely to listen to an opera.

4. Find the Music you like in Opera’s Enormous History

Another issue is that opera has been around for so long.

Imagine how popular music has changed. From to Sinatra, to the Beatles to Bob Dylan. From Queen to NSync to Lady Gaga. That’s only around 60 years, and the music is so diverse, and so different, that any fan of one can be an ardent detractor of the other.

Now add centuries of music on top of that, and you’ve got the changes that opera runs. There is so much music to choose from that a person will not know where to start.

When a person says, “I like Opera”, the layman thinks, “That’s a specific type of music”, while the initiated person thinks, “What type of opera?”

Personally, I like operas before 1800. I listen mainly to music from 1700-1800. That’s what I like. When I meet a person who likes opera, they generally listen to music from 1850-1910, music which I sometime like, but which I am not particularly passionate about. The conversation ends there.

Let’s take Popular Music as an example. It’s basically the difference between Jazz and Rock-and-Roll. If I am intimately acquainted with Jazz, which is one type of popular music, I am not necessarily passionate about Rock-and-Roll, though I may like some of it.

Bowie and Beethoven. One of these things is not like the other, though, strangely, some people seem to have a hard time being able to tell.

But people tend to assume that “Opera” is a specific category, like “Norwegian Death Metal” or “Electronic House Music”, when in fact, it’s just as broad of a label as “Pop Music” or “Classical Music”, and may even be closer to broadness as the label “Music” in general.

5. Defeat the Snobbery

“You only listen to music from 1700? You’re a snob!”

This seems to be the prevalent attitude. If you don’t just gush over popular music, you’re the snob. Never mind that you’ve actually listened to the newest pop song, and your accuser is the person who has never, and may never, listen to any opera of any sort in their entire life-time.

How can a person not like 400 years worth of music?

The opera fan faces a constant barrage of snobbery, simply because they like something that is different, uncommon, and hard to explain. I find myself time and again trying to defend my musical tastes, rather than just enjoying the music. Sure, it’s a different style of music. Sure, you may have never heard anything like it before. But that doesn’t mean I have to explain myself. It feels like being in middle-school when you liked something that wasn’t the “popular” thing to like and being made fun of because of it.

You remember what Middle School was like: “You like the Backstreet Boys? The most popular musical group of the decade? That’s gay, and you’re stupid.” (Backstreet Boys is just the example. You can fill it in with anything you care to name — Middle Schoolers hate everything. For me it was Power Rangers.)

Sadly, it also works the other way around, too.

If you ever have a simple question about a lesser known opera, and you come across an opera fan who, instead of answering your question, derisively says, “Are you saying the Neue Mozart Ausgabe” is incomplete?” You should take a moment to consider, and then back away very slowly… This is not a normal person. There is no way to deal with this person in a normal manner. I learned the hard way that some opera fans don’t like people who don’t already know everything there is to know about opera… and that, perhaps, yes,the Neue Mozart Ausgabe may, indeed, be incomplete. (It’s basically a document containing everything Mozart ever wrote, or that pertained to his music.)

Some fans of opera become snobs because they have an “inside knowledge” of something. Much like this hilarious “hipster” Mozart:

Hipster Mozart reminds me of all those times I've had to explain my project to my models.

Deus Ex Machina

There is a happy ending to all of this.

There’s a popular European Revival of interest in bringing opera to life in the manner the composer and author intended. Talented conductors and singers are bringing neglected works, and popular works, back to life by remaining true to the opera’s original intentions.

Their medium of choice, of course, is recording, rather than theater.

Rene Jacobs reminds us why we love Mozart, by giving it back its emotional and dramatic truth, as well as adding a dash of theatricality. Cecilia Bartoli and Philippe Jaroussky respect and revere music, unearthing forgotten gems and presenting them on recording for the first time. Alan Curtis attempts to record all of Handel with age appropriate, talented actor/singers to bring the composer’s operas back to the top of their game, where they belong.

As more and more young people start directing the course of opera music, it gains a freshness and vitality that the older generation has lost touch with. This upholds the age-old adage, if you haven’t seen it before, it’s new to you!

However, you’ll probably always find the egoist director trying his hardest to get his all-nude Vivaldi opera to ruin the experience. But luckily, there will always be the Autobots of opera to fight those evil Decepticons!

Jaroussky and Bartoli, the Auto-bots of Opera. Ever ready to fight the evil Dececpticons of Opera.

Autobts, Roll out!

In conclusion, I say to you, be brave. Listen to opera. There’s a whole world out there you may be missing!