I don’t really like the musical Pippin. I’ve seen awful high school versions of it, including one where they decided to do it in hip-hop style, but the director clearly had no idea of just what that was except for posturing. Plus the only person who had a really good voice was my student, Elyse Wojciechowski, in the role of Leading Player. (That performance is remembered in my household as the one my husband left at intermission.)
I do like a lot of the music, particularly the opening song, Magic To Do. That came to me a few weeks ago when I was reading Seth Godin’s daily blogpost, which I decided would make a great meme – so I made one.
Think of your to-do list as full of possibilities instead of tasks, to think of your practice time as time to create, to think of your work or school assignments as opportunities to do something innovative. Imagine that you have magic to do – but maybe it’s not just for you. For your audience, for your teachers, for your family. And for yourself.
People have told me that I would love Pippin if I’d seen the 2013 Broadway production – and based on this video from the Tonys that year, I think they’re right.
Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass.
As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination.
Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.
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