To celebrate the opening of the 2013-2014 season, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Kansas City Ballet threw open their doors to scores of First Friday crowds.
At the Ballet's Bolender Center, just west of Union Station, visitors received a behind-the-scenes peek into the process of bringing a performance to the stage during an open rehearsal hosted by new Artistic Director Devon Carney. Company dancers glided gracefully across the practice floor as they performed excerpts from five ballets featured in the fall performances (October 11 - 20, 2013).
On the east side of the Crossroads Arts District, the Lyric's Opera Center allowed guests an up close and personal look at the props and scenery for the upcoming production of The Capulets and the Montagues (September 21 - 29, 2013). The Opera's vast collection of scenery in the prop vault were also on view to visitors streaming through the production facility.
"I love the access they've given us to the sets and costumes," said Ciana Piraro, while sipping a drink beneath artistic renderings of sets for The Capulets and the Montagues.
For some, the temptation to touch the artistry of the costumes was too great. "They feel like the tops of bullets!" exclaimed Susan Chamberlain as she felt the studded vest of a gas-masked mannequin.
"And how are they ever going to sing in that mask?" wondered her friend Lynn Bayes-Weiner.
Kansas City Ballet's open rehearsal was held Friday, September 6, 2013, Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, 500 W Pershing Rd, Kansas City, Mo. 816-931-2232
Lyric Opera of Kansas City's first First Friday was held on Friday, September 6, 2013, Beth Ingram Administration Building, 1725 Holmes, Kansas City, Mo. 816-471-4933.
