Starting July 1, when we went to the Castleton Festival in Virginia and videotaped La Boheme for Maestro Lorin Maazel, my mantra has been, “Just get through July, just get through July…” We are officially done with July, so I decided it was definitely time to get a blog entry done.

Although I have posted some quick entries to my Facebook page, I have terribly neglected my blog. After three operas and three weddings in July, I am ready for a break. However, all of this beautiful material must be edited, so our work is not done yet.  But it is all post-production, at least until we hit September. Even though we have an editing studio set up at our place near Bethany Beach, it is hard to work when everyone else is playing. (Not that Case and his Marsh Video don’t have a boatload of work to finish–between his corporate clients and film transfers, he has much to do.)

Anyway, we ended the month with a bang. John and Michelle’s wedding at Grace United Methodist Church and their reception at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Maryland, were great. They had their rehearsal dinner at Mitchum’s Steakhouse in Trappe. We videotaped the rehearsal dinner, and projected their “slideshow” on a big screen for everyone to enjoy.

Here are some of the other professionals who provided first-class service for Michelle and John’s beautiful day:

The City Florist (flowers for wedding and reception)

Julie Bakes (groom’s cake and wedding cake)

Tracey George at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay

Maryann Judy of Ambiance~Distinctive Weddings and Events

Mitchum’s Steak House (rehearsal dinner)

Egomedia Photography

Doctor’s Orders (awesome band)

Congratulations to Michelle and John. A beautiful start to a beautiful life. Here are a few more stills from the video on the day of the wedding (To see more images and short video clips, go to our Facebook page.):

This little girl did not fall. It was part of the act, as you can see by the big smile on her face:

Here are some more shots.                                                        

Great show girls! Keep up the good work. Except for my chilly feet, we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to videotape this lovely show.

 (Video work was done by Case and Phyllis Marsh of  Marsh Video Productions –a full service video studio in Easton, MD.)

The Castleton Festival was started in 2009 by Lorin and Dietlinde Maazel, and has become the “centerpiece program of The Chateauville Foundation.” To read more about this wonderful organization, please go to their website at castletonfestival.org.

We taped five, one-act operas this year.  The first was “A Soldier’s Tale” by Igor Stravinsky. The opera was the story of a soldier on leave, heading for his home village. He ends up making a deal with the devil, losing everything by the end of the opera. 

The second opera was “Master Pedro’s Puppet Show”  by Manuel de Falla. The story was taken from an episode in the novel Don Quixote.  This delightful opera was a “show within a show”. Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho Panza are watching a puppet show, narrated by a little boy, and Quixote gets a little too involved in the show. The extremely clever puppets and puppeteers were from The Puppet Kitchen in New York.

The three other operas (Il Trittico) were all written by the great Giacomo Puccini. The first was “Il Tabarro”-the story of a tragic love triangle set near Paris. The Seine river barge set was amazing.

The second opera, “Gianni Schicchi” was extremely funny and clever. Although originally set in 13th century Florence, Italy, the opera was given a modern twist which was perfect. The story is basically that of greedy relatives who are disappointed that their wealthy relative has died, leaving them nothing in his will. They call upon Gianni Schicchi to help them resolve the problem, and he does–to his advantage, of course. (When Lauretta gives a “thumbs-up” to her lover Rinuccio after singing the familiar and beautiful “Oh! mio babbino caro” to her father Gianni, the audience roared with laughter. Great touch!)

The third opera of Il Trittico was “Suor Angelica”. This beautiful opera takes place in a convent. Sister Angelica has a dark secret that is revealed by the end of the opera. The performances were extremely moving.

William Kerley (Resident Stage Director) was the director for all five of the operas. We have worked in the past with him . His creativity is always astounding to us.

Nicholas Vaughan (Scenic & Costume Designer), was over the top this year. The sets, especially for Il Trittico, were wonderful.

Rie Ono (Lighting Designer) did her usual great lighting. It was our pleasure to work with her again.

Maestro Maazel was the musical director for four of the five operas. Han-Na Chang conducted the orchestra for “Master Pedro’s Puppet Show”. The orchestras were excellent for all five operas we taped.

Congratulations on another successful festival. We can’t wait to see what the Maazels will do next year!

At the end of each of the shows, there was a tribute to the studio’s five seniors.

The tribute was beautiful. A photo montage for each of the dancers was shown on a large screen in the auditorium. Each had an opportunity to dance in front of the screen while her montage was being projected. It was a lovely moment.

Jamie Rohanna should be very proud of her dancers. It was indeed a “good night”.

Emily lead the guests in worship. Part of becoming a Bat Mitzvah (daughter of the commandments) is that you are called to read publicly from the Torah for the first time.

At the party, Barry Hart’s PartyTyme Entertainment provided not only music, but lots of fun games.

We provided a “growing-up” photo montage for the party, which we played on two large flat-screen televisions for the guests to enjoy. We also provided a “dancing photo montage” which played while a good friend of the family sang “I Hope You Dance”.

Andrew and Kim Nock were the official photographers for the day. As usual, we had a good time working with them. I am sure their photos will be beautiful.

Mazel tov to Emily and her family! Thank you for choosing us to be your Bat Mitzvah videographers.

All of these stills were taken directly from the video we recorded. We are extremely blessed to have a dance director like Jessica Hindman on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. (To see more stills from the shows, contact us at phyllis@marshvideo.com or telephone us at 410-822-9010.)

Bay Country Figure Skating Club has asked us to tape their exhibition in April. Case and I are looking forward to this show. Although my first love will always be wedding videography, figure skating could become a close second. (Both photos are stills from the video.)

Punta Cana is a great place for a destination wedding. Anyone interested in hiring us to be their videographers, feel free to call!

We will be participating in the  2010 Eastern Shore Bridal Extravaganza in Easton on January 31. Please stop by to see us.