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Allan Lee
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Period costume for opera, art finishing, new concept ideas
and the performing arts industry, all hold special interest for me.
As a result of studying in the Diploma of Theatre Costume
Manufacturing I have acquired skills in millinery, draping, tailoring,
design, construction, couture garment making and pattern making (modern
and period).
I have had work experience in on-location dressing for
TV and theatre at Opera Australia in costume construction.
Some of the special qualities and skills that I can bring
to the Theatre Costume industry are that I am an honest and loyal team
worker, able to plan and prioritise workload, strong attention to detail,
creative visualiser, able to work to deadlines, effective communicator
and capable when under stress.
Manon Lescaut
| The costume 'Robe a L'anglaise', for the
scene I have chosen is where Manon is in Gerontes luxuriously appointed
room in Paris and has become his mistress. Here Manon is at the height
of superficial beauty and glamour, reflected in the elegant-set musical
number illustrating the Parisian demi-monde.
Manon is the best-known work by the popular French opera
composer Jules Massenet. It was composed in 1883-84 to a libretto in five
acts by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, adapted from the novel Manon
Lescaut (1731) by the Abbe Prevost.
Typically for Massenet, the story and
the music combine religious themes and sensual ones, in a mildly titillating
way, not for shock value as in Richard Strauss's Salome. |
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| (This novel is
also the source for Giacomo Puccini's Manon Lescaut, which emphasizes the
story's romantic conflicts.) On her way to a convent Manon elopes instead
with the Chevalier des Grieux.
After many mishaps, during which des Grieux
at one point vows to become a priest, the two are accused of crooked gambling
and prostitution. Manon, sentenced to transportation overseas and too weak
to flee, dies in the arms of des Grieux.
Manon was first performed at the
Opera Comique in Paris on Jan. 19, 1884. The U.S. premiere took place at
the Academy of Music in New York City on Dec. 23, 1885.
David Wright
(c) 1997 Grolier, Inc.
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