A Day at the Opera

Traipsing along behind Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera's artistic director, for today's story was an eye-opener. We began in Evans' trendy downtown loft apartment, where the happy homemaker made us (the opera's Jennifer Bellin and me) a batch of scrumptious whole wheat muffins. He showed off the art on his walls (the company's longtime scenic designer Jay Depenbrock's sketches from a 1980s production of "Onegin," local artist Susan Lambert's Eiffel Tower and a nice abstract by Tom Levine, Jimmy's brother). Then we were off for the day!

What followed were: meetings, meetings and more meetings. Outside of Music Hall, a conversation was going on entirely in French, as the French cast assembled for a "meet and greet" upstairs. Above, you see Evans talking with a couple of lighting interns, Patty Beggs (general director and CEO) chatting with guild member Lois Brenner -- and what appears to be chorus director Henri Venanzi's back -- at the wonderful brunch spread, provided by the guild.

Then, Evans sits with a couple of tenors: Vinson Cole, who is singing the title role in "Hoffmann" and Mark Panuccio, for a cast orientation meeting (it's just like camp!).

Finally, there's a production meeting for "Hoffmann," with director Mark Streshinsky, right (doesn't he look like Jake Heggie??!!) and about 15 others in the production crew. This, all before noon.