Dru Rutledge here.  Or you might know me better as the 2nd Lady or Papagena. 

Let me tell you a story. A story about a fearless cast and their fearless leader (you can call her Alexis) who traversed the great lands of Oregon — crossing the beautiful Blue Mountains to meet some very tiny Astronauts, through the wonderful Wallowa Mountain range where they appeared to only be 'Halfway' there, and to the bustling hallways of the music school at Eastern Oregon University.  Maybe first, I should explain in greater detail...

Monday, your band of misfits — Samm, David, Stacey, Ainsley, Ksenia, Dru (that's me), Claudia, Anthony and Kevin woke early to assemble at the Hampton Opera Center. After some much needed fuel for both the van and the pianist, we headed towards Pilot Rock Elementary.  While we experienced a small detour on the way (due to a dragon slain in the middle of the road or something) we arrived in plenty of time for our first of two performances.  Welcomed by a live gym and great playing stage, we performed first for the Pilot Rock Astronauts and then for two different schools who had done quite a bit of traveling of their own.  We were told by the custodian that the two small but mighty schools had driven 60 minutes one-way to see The Magic Flute! After an insightful Q&A session POGO headed for the mythical land of La Grande!

I believe in miracles. Especially the theatrical miracle. Over and over our LaGrande residency has proved that the theater owner in "Shakespeare in Love" was right when he answered the desperate question, “How will it be alright?” with, “I don’t know. It’s a miracle.”

Last week, POGO loaded up into the van on Monday morning and drove to Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande. The plan was to arrive early to mid-afternoon, check into the hotel and have time for a deep cleansing breath before I headed over to the university with David, our accompanist for our first rehearsal with the children’s choir for the second act of La Boheme. Oh, did I forget to tell you? We were going to stage the entire second act of La Boheme in just under 4 hours. As Christopher Mattaliano, our GD told me when he heard that that was my plan, “You do realize that that is the most difficult 20 minutes in all of opera to stage, right?” Well, Chris, I do now. But, then fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and, while I don’t think I am a fool, I am no angel!

Anyway, the Grande Ronde Community Choir, the children’s choir, three of the university students (thank you, Keil, Renee and Jon!), one university professor (thanks, Peter!) and the intrepid cast of POGO pulled it off. I cannot believe we did it, but we did. Granted, I pulled the principals into about 4 hours of rehearsal away from the chorus, but still. I was very impressed with the hard work and dedication that made it happen.  

And I need to give a huge thanks to Michael Frasier—he pulled together the minimal props and built me a platform so I could get some of the bodies off of the floor. His efforts were heroic, and I appreciate him more than I can say!