It was a whirlwind. A quick weekend to France to perform the original Jazz Opera: “Don’t worry, Be HaRpy” by French composer and harpist Isabelle Olivier. This particular weekend also happened to be my birthday weekend. It was not an easy trip but it was a wonderful one. High temperatures in the hot Sun, hours of rehearsal and my knees never add up to much in the way of comfort but it did make for a thrilling adventure. The show is wonderful, Isabelle is genius and the players and crew were fantastic. Then there was the setting! We performed in a Medieval castle called Chateau de Blandy les Tours. Talk about magical surroundings!
We flew into Charles de Galle airport at 8:35 am and went directly to the site to begin rehearsals. The ride was over an hour past Paris and into a new landscape of flat fields of wheat and corn. We were in the middle of nowhere. But nowhere was gorgeous! I love the tiny villages that dot the French countryside. They are full of history. And the Chateau de Blandy was a tribute to that time of monarchy and aristocracy. It is a fortress surrounded by a huge stone wall in a perfect circle around a keep and other structures. Towers and turrets, a moat, a parapet walk – it was all there and completely restored and intact! I became obsessed!
to be continued …
