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This spring, Lincoln Center's extensive redevelopment of its many buildings and public spaces moves into the next big phase of work, including construction on and below the Center's main plaza with its iconic fountain. 

 

If you haven't been to Lincoln Center lately, you may be surprised by the addition of extensive construction fencing which has closed off the usual driveway dropoff and some of the plaza itself.  In addition, some of the other ways you may be used to arriving at Lincoln Center may be closed off temporarily during periods of renovation.

 

This construction work will directly affect how you attend a production in New York City Opera's spring season.  We encourage you to check our website for updated information about how the construction work may be affecting the subway and bus stops, parking garage and pedestrian access before arriving for a performance.  Always be sure to allow extra time to get here, so you won’t miss a minute of the opera.

 

In addition, Lincoln Center has provided several ways to learn more about the work being done and how it may affect your visits to the campus during the next year:

 

You will still be able to use the main stairs in front of the plaza to get to the New York State Theater this spring, but parts of the stairs will be closed off at various times.   Also, part of the plaza itself will be fenced off, including areas around the fountain.

 

Lincoln Center's north-south driveway (between 65th Street and 62nd Street) is temporarily closed during construction -- eventually, it will be reconfigured to dip down below the main stairs so that cars will drop off passengers below street level. 

For patrons in wheelchairs or those with limited mobility, access is available to the New York State Theater on West 62nd Street at the west end of the Theater by Damrosch Park. Patrons exiting vehicles at this location should then proceed north (toward Lincoln Center Plaza) along the side of the State Theater and turn right at the west end of the Terrace to reach the main Lobby entrance.

 

The State Theater's traditional Wheelchair Entrance will still be accessible and can be reached by going west on 62nd Street to just beyond the loading dock of the New York State Theater and taking a right into the first driveway. At the bottom of the incline, and just inside the facility, is a place to stop the car, disembark passengers needing a wheelchair or other walking assistance, who can then be admitted through the Wheelchair Entrance.  A red telephone just to the right of the doorway will permit you to gain access to the building.

 

 

Buses: The M104, M5 and M7 bus stop is currently located at 66th Street and Broadway.

 

Subways: The pedestrian passage that connects the downtown subway entrance to Avery Fisher Hall to the New York State Theater may be closed at various times. 

 

 

 

Westbound (via 62nd Street)
A parking garage entrance is located between Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue, between the New York State Theater and Damrosch Park on the north side of the street.

 

Eastbound (via 65th Street)
A parking garage entrance is located between Columbus Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue.  Take the second available right into the Lincoln Center complex on the south side of the street, just after the mid-block stop light.  This entrance is currently surrounded by gray metal scaffolding.

 

Handicapped Access
Designated handicapped parking spaces are located in the Yellow Section of the garage.

 

Important Note: The Lincoln Center Parking Garage is likely to be full near performance time, due to a reduced number of available spaces because of construction demands.  Signage will be posted to assist drivers through new pathways within the garage complex.  Drivers without a parking reservation should plan to allow enough time (up to 40 minutes) should they be unable to park at this facility.

 

 

 

Sarah Jane McMahon: Well, I love it because I started as a dancer and I danced for 15 years. So it's been a lot of fun for me to see the dancers and they are fantastic. And I think it's very interesting, innovative -- you don't see this often.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  The cool thing is that both dancers and singers are in the same world on the same stage, but we're from such different disciplines.  We're all responding to the music but they're responding physically and we're responding vocally.  And it's interesting, when I get into the theater we have 2 hours of makeup and I see the dancers already there, physically warming up their bodies.  Their dedication is totally different and based on a physical thing, while we're probably really quiet and mellow before the show so we have voice to give for the performance.  So we're coming at it from two different angles which is kind of interesting.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  I like watching them dance and breathe because it reminds me to take a low, deep supported breath.  It actually relaxes me to watch them dance.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  And in the opera world, we don't usually talk onstage.  Most of the time, we're involved with being in character and acting and what's coming up next.  But I've noticed that the dancers will say, "You're too far over to stage-right," or "you need to step backwards here" -- they say that to each other and that's a very normal part of their working, and it's something that I'm not used to.  But it's been very helpful, too, because I don’t have to worry about doing that on my own.  There's always a dancer behind me saying, "Step to the right, step to the left," and it's made things a lot easier.

 

Also, in the second half of the show, I go from being in a pair of underwear onstage (which is a very new experience for me) to having 60 seconds for a team of dressers to put me in a full tuxedo and a hat and shoes and tie.  And I have to shove my own scenery onstage to sing this huge aria, and then after that we all have to move around set pieces.  And the dancers have all done this before so this is clockwork for them.  However, (a) we're not used to moving onstage that way and (b) we're not used to moving around sets.  So I have to be reminded constantly that I have to think in a different way now -- I'm not just a singer, I'm moving around.  So... the dancers push me around a little bit.

 

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Well, for me -- I'm actually juggling in the show -- and I have to make sure I'm right between these two dancers that do back-hand springs across the stage.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Yes -- quite high in the air -- it's really a feat!

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  So I'm always saying a prayer that the juggling balls don't hit them, or me. I just want to be out of their way and in the right spot.  But, luckily, it hasn't been hazardous but that's probably... maybe the scariest moment.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  For me -- and it's not hazardous although it looks so onstage -- in act 3, which is the end of the first half of the opera, I play the cold genius, who is a character who is completely frozen (and I don't want to give it away, but...) I come out in a fridge. After that, the dancers all wake up and chase me around the stage.  At first, I was confused because we hadn't rehearsed with the dancers -- the assistant director kind of showed us what to do on our own and then we added the dancers later.

 

So I was thinking it was a choreographed number, and that I just needed to get out of their way. But now I realize, as we've done it over and over, that they're chasing me.  There's no set choreography there, and they're actually chasing me around the stage!  And for three days I just kept thinking, "Oh no, I went the wrong way again! I went the wrong way again!"  Because there was always someone coming right at me -- until someone said to me, "it would help a lot if you'd let us catch you."  So I went, "Oh, you're really trying to catch me!" -- I didn't know.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  We have a lot of that -- just spontaneous moments.  Like in the number "Come Follow Me," with the flashlights -- we were never really told where to go.  We were told, "you find it" -- which is really nice because you get to use your own ideas, too.  So, sometimes, people would run into each other.  You know, there are doors onstage, so before I ever enter a door, I always knock on it lightly to make sure I'm not going to fling it open and hit someone.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  I think it goes along with the discipline thing -- they're used to working as a team and we're used to working as soloists.  As in: I am responsible for getting myself to point A.  Like I can't be responsible for Sarah Jane showing up, but they're used to being sure that everyone is in the right spot, and that's kind of rubbed off on us, so we've kind of blended into their group, which has been really fun.

 

And this is their 3rd time around, so they could have actually been impatient, and been like, "When are these Americans going to get it?"  Because the other cast was British.  And I'm sure they knew where they were going.  And we've stumbled around in rehearsals but they just couldn't have been nicer about it.

 

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Well, going into it, I wondered, "Oh gosh, I hope I fit into this mold" -- they've already had other people who have done this.  But I guess they wouldn’t have cast me if they didn’t think I'd fit the mold.  And it's been great -- I actually think it's been very comfortable.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  And I think we're creating a new show -- even though the show's been done twice before, it's a new group of people.  And some of the movements are definitely the same, but some of it has been left open to Sarah Jane's personality or temperament, and they've allowed us to have the freedom to do that.  So we weren’t put under any pressure to recreate something that's already been done.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  They built it to suit us, not to try and copy something else.

 

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Yes, and they assured us, "you're not supposed to know, it looks like that, it's supposed to be frenetic and crazy, and if you're feeling lost you're probably doing everything exactly right."

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  It took a little while to get used to "playing yourself," since we never really have.  Of course, we all create our own characters, but it's pretty much been left up to us -- with a lot of help and advice.

 

 

 

Daniel Mobbs:  There may be a few moments where there's sexual activity onstage, but everyone’s dressed.  It's more about play-acting.  It's more like, this is an idea someone had... so, people might raise an eyebrow but not be shocked. (Except when I am in my underwear! [laughs]

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Well, yes.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  [laughs] People might be shocked by that.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Well, I am essentially in my underwear too, but I at least get to wear a slip -- thank God.  Essentially, we're all in our "underwear" but Dan has the least on.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Yeah, I'm the only one who is bare-chested. Some of us are wearing jeans and sneakers -- it's almost like the audience is getting to watch a rehearsal, or the idea of 40 different shows being put together at once.  It's just an interesting visual experience.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  And I love my costumes.  I wish I could keep them.  I could wear them all the time.  The first costume, I could wear that to rehearsal, I mean it's adorable.  And then my last costume --

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Except for the wings.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Oh, that's true. I guess I wouldn't wear wings and carry a wand in real life.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  But she wants to.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Yes, I do want to! But then my last costume is this black, sequined mini-dress.  Gorgeous.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  And Isaac Mizrahi has been really nice to all of us.  And again, those costumes were built and designed for another singer.  But if we had issue with it, or weren't comfortable, he was right there to fix it.  And like, now that Mhairi is pregnant, he was right there to make sure that she was comfortable, and built something around her new body.  So he's been really helpful and gracious that way.

 

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  I think you have to come into this with a very open mind.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  And leave with an open mind.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Don't expect anything traditional.  It's not traditional, it's very innovative -- which is great, because that's what New York City Opera is known for.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Mark Morris said to us once, "don't try to get it. You're not supposed to get it."  Which actually clued us in to thinking, "okay, go with it -- let it be what it is."  It doesn't have to be one thing or another, it's going to evolve into something.

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  And we don't usually get to do these productions. So this is great.

 

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Seeing, no, but hearing, yes -- Jane Glover is a master at this type of music.  And she has conducted us with such enthusiasm and encouragement and it comes from a great well of knowledge, and that leads to us -- not so much wanting to live up to her expectations -- as much as she really thinks we can just do wonderful things with the music.   And I think people are going to walk away from this thinking, "I heard an amazing piece of early music done very well."

 

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  I have some friends that are coming who have never seen an opera, and I actually think it's a great opera to start with -- it's in English, it's only 2 hours long, it's definitely not your traditional opera, and nobody dies.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  Yes! Nobody dies!

 

Sarah Jane McMahon:  Hopefully, everyone will leave with a very happy feeling.  So I think it'd be a great first opera.

 

Daniel Mobbs:  This is light fare, it's brilliantly colorful, there's so much to watch with the dancers and the singers and the costumes, that if you find something not to your liking, you can look over to the other side of the stage and find something twice as interesting to you.  There’s so much going on, I think there's something for everybody.

 

 

 

This season, we are presenting thirteen productions.  13 operas x an average of 10 principal singers + 32 choristers = minimum of about 550 costumes, not counting costumes for covers and understudies.

 

To give you an idea, our dressers can get a singer changed from a maid's costume into an evening gown in 30 seconds.  But if you really want to see impressive quick changes, just imagine the entire chorus of a production changing costumes simultaneously in 3 minutes or less.

 

How many dressers per opera:

 The amount of dressers all depends on the size and demands of the opera.  This past fall, our production of Carmen had the most dressers with 17 (which did not include the wig and make-up staff.)

 

We have sheep, lions and "a lady with one left buttock" in Candide -- perhaps not complicated, but certainly out of the ordinary.

 

 

This is the second of a 2-part chat with two of the featured singers from our upcoming production of Purcell's King Arthur, Iestyn Davies and Mhairi Lawson.  To read part 1, click here. 

 

 

 

 

Mhairi Lawson:  For me, there was the platform -- there's a platform that they use in Act 5, which I have to sit on in front of a Christmas tree, and the platform is supposed to get moved, then pushed forward, and the platform got stuck.  I think it was on the first night --

 

Iestyn Davies:  Yes, I was watching this from the side!

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yes.  Also, there was a curtain -- a big blue curtain -- that was supposed to come down, that got stuck on the tree --

 

Iestyn Davies:  It's supposed to drop behind you as you pass through.  So it was this beautiful scene, wrecked.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yeah, and I didn't know what to do.  Basically, I just smiled and sang a bit.

 

Iestyn Davies:  It just looked like we were rehearsing, which was perfect.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yeah, and it was weird because you really wouldn't think twice about sitting on a platform that's moving, but in actual fact, it was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do; to kind of try and keep steady when I wasn't quite sure whether it was going to move or not.  And then when it did move, it started with a bit of a jolt.  And then, you know, in between the verses...you've got to stand up, the platform gets swiveled around in a circle, and you have to walk on it.  It looks a bit like the moonwalk, because I'm walking, the platform is moving, but I'm not really going anywhere.  So it was the platform that caused me the big trauma in England, and I hope it never happens again.

 

Iestyn Davies:  As you were speaking, I was trying to think if anything -- I mean, I'd love to come up with an amazing story where, you know, I was flown in on my head, but it all sort of went smoothly, I think.  I mean, occasionally things would go wrong, like in this particular scene -- that whole dance routine of the drunken ball -- I think when we did it in California, the singer had just finished his solo, and he had stepped into this circle and we went around -- we're all mirrored in couples -- and he went in front of me or behind me or something like that, and we just didn't realize it, and the music stopped.  So the next couple ended up in totally the wrong place.  And us not being dancers, we couldn't just have improvised, so there were kind of -- oh, it was just a nightmare. 

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  Well, I think we tried to.  I don't think anybody had really noticed, or I don't think Mark -- well, obviously, Mark noticed -- he's got an eagle eye.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  He notices all kinds of things like that.

 

Iestyn Davies:  But I think with things like that, he just accepts the fact that we're singers.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  Well, the dancers are great.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  The dancers are fantastic about it.

 

Iestyn Davies:  I mean, that's why they're such good, great --

 

Mhairi Lawson:  They're so comfortable with just anything, really.

 

Iestyn Davies:  They adapt to any situation, like the singing -- just picked it up, learned it, and I think the great thing is that there's a huge amount of trust between Mark and who he employs, and we, just watching their rehearsal -- a lot of what they come up with they come up with themselves, and they're told to go off and experiment and find moves, and it's amazing what they come back with.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  And he entrusted us with a bit of that as well, didn't he?  And if he didn't like something, he would just say, "It was horrible, do something else."

 

Iestyn Davies:  You were always sure.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  He always reassured us that he would tell us if he didn't like it, and that was very comforting.  Iestyn and I are the only two remaining cast members from the last time we did this, so one of the scenes, it was kind of going along as it was supposed to, and towards the end, we hadn't quite choreographed the last bit, and some of the newer guys in it just sort of improvised, and it ended up being this thing that Mark didn't like because he said at the end, "Cut that."  But he didn't stop us, he just sort of said, "well, let's see what these people do and see if I like it," rather than just saying, "This is a revival, you're going to do Act 4."  There's no point in that, if you're just going to say, "Well, this is what we did last time."  You've got to sort of let everyone breathe life into it again.

 

 

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Well, I mean everybody's just lovely, the American singers are gorgeous and they're happy just to make things up as they go along, and do a bit of what was done before.  And anyway, it already feels different and it already feels as though they're personalizing their own roles.

 

Iestyn Davies:  And I think, had it been the same people again, it might have not come off as well because we might all be a bit too laissez-faire about it.  And that's quite nice, so it's not too different, but at the same time, it's different people so it feels different.  But I think the overall feel of the show will be just as successful.

 

Iestyn Davies:  They certainly did in Berkeley.  I mean, it's different, and this is again getting back to one of the bizarre things that happened -- we would be singing something in Berkeley, a scene which -- in England, we'd just sing and everyone sort of claps and then you go off stage -- but in Berkeley, they'd be rolling about laughing at something, and it was actually, our faces looked stone dead, you know, sort of gasping because we would just think, "This isn't funny."  There's a scene where we're folding these big sheets and we're basically sort of singing about the British wool trade -- wool was sort of the biggest export in England in the 17th century -- and we all sing in unison, "the British wool," and in Britain, of course, everyone's sort of "Yeah, yeah" -- we expect that.  But in California, it was a real shock to hear the words "The British wool," and the audience just loved it.  There's a different kind of atmosphere in a way; it was more comedy.  It was more of the vaudeville aspect that came across with American audiences, I think because maybe in this country, you're more used to blurring the lines between opera and West End, or opera and Broadway musicals.  Because a lot of singers in America do both, and there's a fine line between the two.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  It's once removed over in America.  It's something in Britain that's quite mythical.  You know, as a tourist in Britain, you get little globes with the Tower of London in snow, that kind of slightly fantastic aspect, which I think is part of the show.  Not that fantasy is a bad word here, but I think that kind of dressing up -- it's not specifically about Britain, either.  Our costumes use variations of red, white, and blue, a lot.  But I think red, white, and blue are colors that are familiar with flags all over the world.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  I also kind of got the feeling that there was the celebration of Independence Day as well, and the maypole theme.

 

Iestyn Davies:  Well, we clashed with Independence Day, I think, at one of the shows in Berkeley.  Somebody mentioned that in a review in England, and they thought it was all deliberate, and I think they missed the point.  They tried to look for that meaning and it wasn’t there.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Well, I think there is a little bit of a reference, you know, to Independence Day, to stars and stripes.  But in actual fact, after we were finished in England, I found myself in the west country, in Glastonbury, and I went to visit what was supposed to be King Arthur's grave, in Glastonbury Abbey, and I felt really proud... I did have a little talk with him.

 

Iestyn Davies:  I think it's supposed to be his heart buried in that grave.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  I got a lot of postcards, actually, with the grave of King Arthur in Glastonbury Abbey, and I don’t think I would have bothered with that otherwise.

 

Iestyn Davies:  I went down to Tintagel down in Cornwall, where Merlin's Cave is, and it's all supposed to be, you know, the home of King Arthur, and I had a little moment as well, just private.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yeah, and you know, it's such a shame that Merlin doesn't appear in this, although he does appear in the version where we have the dialogue, which has been cut. And Merlin, it was supposed, actually died in Scotland, and he was -- yes -- not very far away from where I come from.

 

Iestyn Davies:  You're probably related.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  The legend goes that Merlin was converted to Christianity by Saint Kentigern, who was one of the great Celtic saints, and then after he was converted to Christianity, he died and a fern tree rose in his stead --

 

Iestyn Davies:  Or, you can come watch the opera, a very short, fun evening, and there's no history lecture about Merlin.

 

 

Mhairi Lawson:  I just hope they have a really, really fun evening.  And you know, if anybody is inspired to visit the UK and go and visit King Arthur's grave in Glastonbury -- I mean, that's a great thing to do.  I just hope that people really enjoy it and leave the theater feeling uplifted and transformed.

 

Iestyn Davies:  I think the main thing is to turn up and be relaxed, and leave your opera hats at home, leave your opera glasses at home -- unless you're very shortsighted -- and just sort of let it wash over you.  Then, go home and see what happens.  I mean, it's a bit of a trip, I think, rather than 'tuxedo night out' at the Met.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  For me, I think the challenge was more that -- not necessarily the English National Opera, the building or the people who worked there or the orchestra -- it was just the first time I'd worked with dancers.  So we actually rehearsed in Brooklyn, at the studios of the Mark Morris Dance Group, which made a lot more sense.  Just incorporating ourselves on stage with the dance company is quite intimidating for a singer who's not done any dancing, that kind of thing.  So we weren't quite sure what to expect.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  And apparently, it really worked because people really didn't know who was who on the stage.  It's nice because the dancers are not uniform in sizes like you might get in a classical ballet company.  They have different heights and different sized bottoms, a bit like us singers.

 

Iestyn Davies:  And also, they had to sing.

 

 

Mhairi Lawson:  No, the conductor did some work with them and they took it incredibly seriously, which was absolutely lovely.

 

Iestyn Davies:  But I mean, they taught us a bit of dancing.  In Act 4 and Act 5, the men have this drunken ball and we do this kind of very English country dance.  And we have to sort of, basically, mingle in with the dancers.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  And that's one of the scenes --

 

Iestyn Davies:  Where you're not sure who's who.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yeah, you really can't tell who’s who.  It's all beautifully done and with great vim and vigor, and everybody jumps out of their seats and cheers at the end of it.

 

Iestyn Davies:  Yeah, I think also if there was anything challenging about specifically the English National Opera, it's a bit like the New York City Opera, that when we went to Berkeley in California to do it there, we had a Baroque orchestra, and often things pick up, musically -- the style picks up straight away.  But there were different instruments, different playing styles from when this music was written, or how it would have sounded in the instruments of the day, so we've had to adjust to that.  Plus, the size of the building, the English National Opera, similar to the New York City Opera, is very big, not always kind on the voice.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yes, and also, different pitch as well. I've done King Arthur at a whole tone below the modern pitch, and it actually makes some of the arias really quite Wagnerian, and you can't just croon it; you've really got to give it your all, and that's something that was quite a challenge -- for me anyway -- I don't know about the others.

 

Iestyn Davies:  And also it was quite exciting because, as I said before, we rehearsed over here, we prepared everything, and then we just turned up at English National Opera.  And I think that's kind of quite rare for a company, for an opera, to not be rehearsed in the actual venue, and so all of the stage crew met Mark Morris during the week of production.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  Yeah, well, in a way.  I mean, you just sort of turn up, but you also learn the constraints and the ins and outs of the actual thing.  The production had to be just taught to all of these people within a week.  And so we had to rehearse, knowing this piece very well on stage, but also having to stop and start because, of course, there was Mark having to talk to the stage crew, and then Johann -- the Mark Morris company's stage guy -- having to sort of turn up and tell the English National Opera people what we're doing.  So that was always a bit of a challenge, behind the scenes.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  Well, there's a lot of getting changed backstage; there's lots of quick changes in costumes.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yeah, the performers actually have a big role in getting props on and off the stage as well.

 

Iestyn Davies:  Because the whole production, as you'll see, is basically that it's just a sort of rehearsal studio and we've turned up, and we're rehearsing, and the costumes are what's called "found" -- you know, they're out of the costume box.  Well, obviously, we've planned it all, but it's supposed to give the appearance of something that's just rehearsing; it's in motion, it's happening in the moment, so there are no wings -- you can see into the wings -- there are no slides there, hiding them.  And there's a big sort of bare, brick wall in the back to give this impression that you've just sort of turned up at rehearsal.  So we're bringing on props, we're moving scenery...it's just part of the show.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  We were encouraged to sort of not shy away from hiding.  I mean, obviously, we didn't want to be in the scene if we weren’t meant to be there, but sometimes we were waiting in the wings.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  And sometimes, it was really hard not to be seen.  In Act 4, I've got this enormous wig, and that’s really quite hard to negotiate because it makes your head about four times the size that it normally is.  And there's quite a few fast costume and makeup changes as well, which gets a bit mad, and you end up a bit sweaty at the end of the night to be honest.

 

Iestyn Davies:  For a piece, actually -- singing-wise -- compared to a lot of later opera that we probably do, certainly for me, the actual musical side of it is probably the easiest bit.  It's an ensemble piece and there's a lot of chamber singing, and there are obviously the big scenes where Cupid sings, and there's a big showpiece aria.  But it's more making sure you're on the right side of the stage and have the right hat on.  I mean, I think it doesn’t matter what hat you've got on --

 

Mhairi Lawson:  No, it's true!

 

Iestyn Davies:  But ironically enough, we actually have to be very precise about what we're wearing -- but at the same time, make it look totally random.

 

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yes.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  Well, no, they are hidden off in the back, but some of the changes are so quick that they have to just disappear.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Particularly quick for the dancers, actually.

 

Iestyn Davies:  The dancers are extraordinary.  I mean, they have changes pretty much every scene.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  They don't even get to the dressing rooms, you know -- there's a few chairs with their new costumes slung over them.  They strip everything off and they fling everything on for the next scene.

 

Iestyn Davies:  I couldn't believe, actually, how little you could hear in the auditorium -- what was going on backstage -- because it was just people dropping swords and coats of armor.  They weren’t just putting on tights and socks.

 

 

Iestyn Davies:  I think so.  It was rehearsing all the costume changes to make sure they work.

 

Mhairi Lawson:  Yes, and it's actually important to rehearse and get it right, just like the stuff we do onstage, or else you end up just kind of like a loose cannon backstage, just wandering around not knowing what to do.  This was a bit of an eye-opener, actually.

 

Tomorrow: In Part 2 of this interview, Davies and Lawson discuss their most memorable onstage moments performing King Arthur, and what changes are in store for the production's New York premiere.