The next show for me is La Bohème opening in November at U-Ms Power Center. At our first meeting in April with director, Matthew Ozawa, we landed on setting the opera in Paris directly at the end of WWII. It fits beautifully, and a 20th C setting keeps the story accessible to a younger audience. At our meeting, along with set designer Grant Preisser, we brainstormed who the artists were at the time in Paris. I had previously designed this show set in the 1920s and the research was abundant for that production- A Moveable Feast providing so much rich detail and backstory- but the war changed everything. Many fled, including artists and composers, and the occupation changed the cast of Parisian characters.
So, before I simply started searching the 1940s in my new database, I got out A Timeline of History*- a picture-less tome I found on the remainder table at Barnes and Noble many years ago to remind myself who was working there then; it's a great first stop for any research project when capturing a snapshot of people and events. (I always joke that as a costume designer I'm a bit of a dilettante...I learn just enough history on any project to fake it) My first "duh" moment was remembering Sartre and de Beauvoir, and from there I cracked open the post-war Left Bank culture. The Bloombury Fashion Central database took me to an article on "The Many Meanings of the Color Black in Post-War Paris," and then I was off and running after learning about Juliette Greco- the muse of the Left Bank (ie- Musetta).
Our opera has an ethnically diverse cast, so it is important to see that diversity reflected in my research. Greco had a relationship with Miles Davis, and that took me on a turn unpacking the African-American ex-pat culture in Paris. James Baldwin and Richard Wright lived in Paris during this (or a slightly later) time which is very helpful for shaping our Rodolfo and Colline.
I'm also noting the timeless silhouettes of the Act 3 Chorus (street sweepers and milk maids) as compared to the urban cafe culture of Act 2.
As always, I started a Bibliography with detailed search terms, links, and a real-life cast of characters to draw upon. I found other great, specific books about our world- Paris, The Biography of a City (Jones), Left Bank, Art Passion and the Rebirth of Paris (Poirier), and Paris Post War, Art and Existentialism 1945-1955 (Morris).
*As I searched for a link to the title I used, I of course found an on-line version from the LOC which I'll be adding to the database!
Comments