Cast Interview: Christie Phillips

Only two performances left! Will you be in the audience tonight or tomorrow afternoon? Singer Christie Phillips hopes to see you at the show!

What's your role in La Périchole?
Berginella (2nd cousin)

What's your favorite part of the show?
Perichole's (the character's) many beautiful melodies, particularly the letter aria, during which she mournfully decides to "break up" with her love, Piquillo, and which is subsequently reprised in a violin solo while Piquillo reads and mournfully absorbs the terrible news. Don't worry, though, the melodrama of it is more hilarious than sad, and my other favorite - the drunk aria - is pure silliness.

What made you decide to get involved with this performance?
VLOC casts are wonderful, warm people to work with. I had a lot of fun being in the cast of Robin Hood this time last year. Although I didn't know anything about the story of this opera, some of the arias were familiar to me and it's very exciting to finally learn about the context in which they fit. Offenbach's music is well worth participating in!

When you're not performing in community theatre, what do you do? (job, hobby, family, etc.)
I am blessed to be raising three amazing daughters, to walk them to school daily, participate in parts of their school operations, and spend my afternoons with them. I love food/cooking and one of my proudest accomplishments in life is cajoling kids and husband to constantly expand their eating repertoires. They all get an A+ according to the "growth model" 

Beginning in Summer 2017 I will be working on my MM in voice pedagogy at GMU. 

La Périchole has two more performances - tonight and tomorrow afternoon at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater. Tickets can be bought at the door or by calling the F. Scott Fitzgerald box office at 240-314-8690.

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