challenging pieces in opera today.

當今歌劇中具有挑戰性的作品。

For six straight minutes, he and his fellow castmates have to sing the word “ah.”

連續六分鐘，他和他的同伴們都要唱一個 "啊 "字。

That seems easy enough, right?

這似乎很容易，對吧？

Until you watch it.

直到你看著它。

[Sings “ah”]

[唱 "啊"]

It's an extraordinary feat that happens roughly one hour into Akhnaten, an opera by

這是一個非同尋常的壯舉，發生在《阿克納頓》的一個小時內。

Philip Glass about this influential Egyptian pharaoh.

菲利普-格拉斯關於這位有影響力的埃及法老。

Anthony plays the lead.

安東尼扮演主角。

Pulling off this opera takes the coordination of hundreds of people.

要完成這部歌劇，需要數百人的協調。

There's dozens of musicians.

有幾十個音樂家。

Over 60 performers,

60多個表演者。

including twelve professional jugglers.

包括十二名專業雜耍演員。

There's stage designers, make-up artists

有舞臺設計師，化妝師

a costume with baby heads attached to them,

一套貼著嬰兒頭的服裝。

and a giant sun roughly the size of twelve Anthonys.

和一個巨大的太陽，大約有十二個安東尼的大小。

Oh, and the music is in four different languages.

哦，音樂有四種不同的語言。

This all happens inside this Iconic building, the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan.

這一切都發生在曼哈頓的大都會歌劇院這座Iconic建築內。

Anthony has performed Akhnaten with the English National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera

安東尼曾與英國國家歌劇院和洛杉磯歌劇院合作演出《阿赫那頓》。

But this one… it's special.

但這個... 是特別的。

I'm mean come on, look at this view.

我的意思是，來吧，看看這個觀點。

It's pretty awesome.

這是相當不錯的。

And what's even cooler is we get a peek behind the curtain

更酷的是，我們可以窺探到幕後的情況。

to see how it all happens.

來看看這一切是如何發生的。

So I play Akhnaten, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, who's a totally fascinating, weird, complex

所以我飾演的是古埃及法老Akknaten，他是一個完全迷人的，奇怪的，複雜的人。

guy.

男人。

He has this idea, which changes the course of history.

他的這個想法，改變了歷史的進程。

Which is that instead of hundreds of gods that have existed in Egypt forever, there

就是說，埃及不是有幾百個神，而是永遠存在的。

would be one God, and that would be the sun.

會是一個神，那就是太陽。

He was thus the first monotheist - the first person to worship one God.

是以，他是第一個一神論者--第一個崇拜一個神的人。

This opera is like a fever dream of ancient Egypt, and it all starts with the music,

這部歌劇就像古埃及的一場熱夢，而這一切都始於音樂。

which wouldn't exist without world class vocal chords.

如果沒有世界級的聲帶，就不會存在。

[Singing]

[唱歌]

These are Anthony's.

這些是安東尼的。

Someone put a scope down my throat,

有人把望遠鏡放進了我的喉嚨。

and then when you breath, they open up.

然後當你呼吸的時候，他們打開了。

Should I walk you through some exercises?

要不要我陪你做一些練習？

[Singing]

[唱歌]

How many of your neighbors know you're an opera singer?

你的鄰居中有多少人知道你是唱戲的？

I was actually going to ask the same thing.

其實我也想問同樣的問題。

Do you get a lot of complaints?

你會不會被很多人投訴？

I don't get that many complaints.

我沒有得到那麼多的抱怨。

I can't hear my own voice the way other ears can because it's buzzing in my head.

我不能像其他耳朵那樣聽到自己的聲音，因為它在我的腦子裡嗡嗡作響。

That's where Joan comes in.

這就是瓊的作用。

It's so much to do with the way we use our breath.

這和我們的用氣方式有很大關係。

She's been his vocal coach since he was 17.

從他17歲開始，她就是他的聲樂教練。

But then we have to do it without a lip trill and just starting on a vowel.

但我們就必須做到沒有脣音顫音，只從元音開始。

That's the challenge.

這就是挑戰。

[Singing: Oooo, ohhh, ahhhh, aaaaa, eeeee]

[唱： Oooo, ohhh, ahhh, aaaaa, eeeee]

See the hardest thing in the world is the first tone.

你看世界上最難的是第一音。

That first tone is vitally important during every moment of Aknahten, but especially the

在Aknahten的每一個時刻，這第一個音調都是非常重要的，但特別是。

scenes where all they sing is “Ah.”

場景中他們唱的都是 "啊"。

[Sings “ah”]

[唱 "啊"]

So that onset that he did, with no consonant, is real accomplishment.

所以他的那個發病，沒有輔音，是真正的成就。

Because if he did, hah ah, ha ah, he'd kill himself.

因為如果他這樣做，呵呵啊，哈啊，他會自殺的。

To understand how an opera could sound like this, you have to know Philip Glass - perhaps

要想知道歌劇怎麼會有這樣的聲音，你必須瞭解菲利普-格拉斯--也許是。

the most famous living composer.

最著名的在世作曲家。

Philip Glass is a minimalist.

菲利普-格拉斯是一個極簡主義者。

So he uses repetition with changing rhythms and syncopation to create a kind of meditative

所以他用重複與變化的節奏和切分音來創造一種冥想的

state.

態。

There's a whole lot of arpeggios, meaning a broken chord.

有一大堆的琶音，意思是斷絃。

So you'll hear da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da

所以你會聽到噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠噠。

And a lot of lyrical repetition.

還有大量的抒情重複。

In opera, there's a beat and the time is king.

戲曲中，有節拍，時間為王。

And you can go 90 percent into your character, but if you go all the way, you might get totally

你可以去90％進入你的性格， 但如果你去所有的方式，你可能會得到完全。

lost and you can't afford that.

失去了，你也負擔不起。

The first step in not getting lost is the sitzprobe.

要想不迷路，第一步就是坐禪。

So the Sitz probe is a German term, which sitz means sit and probe means try.

所以Sitz探針是一個德語術語，其中Sitz是坐的意思，探針是試的意思。

[Singing]

[唱歌]

Let me have the drums and chorus please.

請給我鼓聲和合唱。

This is the first time the orchestra and singers hear what they sound like together after weeks

這是樂團和歌手在數週後第一次聽到他們的聲音。

of rehearsing on their own.

的自己排練。

So it's a kind of sacred moment where you hear the orchestra for the first time, you

所以這是一個神聖的時刻，你第一次聽到管絃樂，你...

sing with the orchestra for the first time.

第一次與樂隊同臺演唱。

And in this particular case, it's the Met orchestra.

而在這種特殊情況下，是大都會管弦樂團。

They're the best.

他們是最好的。

There are two people in this room who keep everyone in check.

在這個房間裡，有兩個人把大家控制住。

Karen and Caren.

凱倫和凱倫

In western music we have a tendency to steal time at the end of a phrase.

在西方音樂中，我們有一種傾向，就是在一個樂句的結尾偷時間。

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three

一二三四，一二三四，一二三四，一二三。

Here it's more about thinking linearly and being really honest about the length of each

在這裡，更多的是線性思維，真正做到誠實地對待每一個人的長度

rhythmic pattern or individual note.

節奏型或單個音符。

Okay, so, we did pretty well, orchestra.

好了，我們做得很好，管絃樂隊。

After about three rounds we start to slow down.

大約三輪過後，我們開始慢下來。

So guys playing the offbeats, don't listen to anyone because we tend to get slower.

所以玩偏門的傢伙，不要聽任何人的，因為我們往往會變得更慢。

I really feel like my job inside the rehearsals is to get inside the conductor's mind to

我真的覺得我在排練裡面的工作就是要進入指揮家的內心，讓他知道我的工作是什麼

know exactly what her tempo is.

知道她的節奏到底是什麼。

[Singing]

[唱歌]

It's hard sometimes for the performers to remember in the moment exactly how many repeats

有時候，表演者很難在瞬間記住到底重複了多少次

they've done, so there's a lot of counting down measures.

他們已經做了，所以有很多倒計時的措施。

A lot of this, which means don't sing let me do the work for you.

很多這樣的，也就是說不要唱歌讓我幫你做。

I give a lot of positive feedback to them to ensure that they're very comfortable

我給了他們很多積極的反饋，以確保他們很舒服。

on stage.

臺上。

Shall I start?

我可以開始了嗎？

Yeah I think you should start.

是的，我想你應該開始。

Yeah so this is an opera with a lot of juggling in it.

是啊，所以這是一部有很多雜耍的歌劇。

This is Phelim McDermott and Sean Gandini.

這是Phelim McDermott和Sean Gandini。

He's the director of the opera and he's the Juggling Master.

他是戲曲導演，他是雜耍大師。

One thing is the performers are moving really slowly.

有一點是表演者的動作真的很慢。

It's true, everyone moves in extreme slow motion the entire performance.

沒錯，整個表演過程中，大家都是以極慢的動作進行的。

Like this scene here, before Aknahten is killed.

就像這裡的這一幕，阿克納赫頓被殺之前。

Zoom into the right side and you see Akhnaten with Nefrititi and their daughters.

放大到右側，你會看到阿克納頓和奈芙麗蒂蒂以及他們的女兒們。

It's another one of those “Ah” scene.

這又是一個 "啊 "的場景。

Move to the left and you the rest of the cast moving again in slow motion.

向左移動，你其餘的演員又在慢動作中移動。

The only thing moving fast are the balls.

唯一快速移動的是球。

Sean and Karen spent a long time looking at the score talking about the mathematics of

肖恩和凱倫花了很長時間看分數，談論數學的。

how the juggling relates to the music.

戲法與音樂的關係。

I spent a lot of time saying make sure there's a development.

我花了很多時間說要確保有發展。

You sent me that script “balls, balls balls”

你給我發的劇本是 "球，球，球"。

Yeah, exactly.

是的，沒錯。

In the middle of the whole show there's the hymn to the sun, and you basically get the

在整場演出的中間，有一首《太陽讚歌》，你基本上可以看到

the sun god, which secretly me and Sean both know that actually that's the god of the jugglers,

太陽神，暗地裡我和肖恩都知道，其實那是戲法家的神。

it's the biggest juggling ball.

它是最大的雜耍球。

Big mama ball.

大媽球。

[Intercom: Standby, we're about to start]

[對講機： 待命，我們即將開始]

We're about to start, I've got to go

我們要開始了，我得走了。

Alright, well see you later.

好吧，再見。

This is the moment I realized, The Met stops for no one.

這一刻，我才意識到，大都會是不為任何人而停留的。

Hundreds of things are always happening at once, especially at dress rehearsals.

幾百件事情總是同時發生，尤其是在彩排時。

Where it's all about getting every last detail right.

凡是要把每一個細節都做好。

The goal is just to get out of people's way because everything is a timed trial.

目標只是為了讓人們不受影響，因為一切都是定時的試驗。

Over 60 cast members need their make-up done and there are just a few make-up artists who

60多個劇組的演員需要化妝，而化妝師就有幾位，他們

have just 2 hours to do it.

只有2個小時的時間。

And here's something I haven't mentioned.

還有一件事我沒有提到。

Anthony enters the opera in slow motion and he's completely naked.

安東尼以慢動作進入歌劇，他是全裸的。

Imagine taking three full minutes to descend twelve steps, looking straight at 4000 people

想象一下，用整整三分鐘的時間，下十二級臺階，直視四千人。

and you're totally naked.

而你完全裸體。

So it's not just his face that gets makeup, his whole body does.

所以不光是他的臉，全身都要化妝。

There's also some incredible costumes and wigs.

還有一些不可思議的服裝和假髮。

Each individual hair is knotted into a net to make the wig.

每一根獨立的頭髮都會被結成網狀來製作假髮。

You don't have to wear a wig?

你不用戴假髮？

I luckily don't luckily have to wear a wig.

我很幸運地沒有幸運地戴上假髮。

But he does have to wear this blue headdress.

但他確實要戴這個藍色的頭飾。

Called a khepresh that many Egyptian pharaohs wore to symbolise their royalty.

被稱為 "凱普瑞什"，許多埃及法老戴著它來象徵自己的皇室身份。

There's always a Cobra on the front.

前面總是有一條眼鏡蛇。

It's amazing and also crap.

很神奇，也很垃圾。

It's like a combo, you know.

這就像一個組合，你知道的。

This is literally styrofoam.

這簡直就是發泡膠。

from the stage in the lights, it looks expensive.

從舞臺上的燈光來看，它看起來很貴。

The real show stealer is this.

真正搶戲的是這個。

The baby head dress.

嬰兒頭的衣服。

If you look at ancient Egypt and the rituals of ancient Egypt, the Book of the Dead, for

如果你看一下古埃及和古埃及的儀式，《死者之書》，對

example, is so fascinating.

例如，是如此的迷人。

The things they would do, preserve people's organs, mummify them, weigh someone's heart

他們會做的事情，保存人們的器官，把他們做成木乃伊，稱某人的心臟。

against a feather in order for them to ascend into the next life.

對著一根羽毛，以便讓他們升入下一世。

We're representing some of those rituals in our own way, and the shrunken baby doll

我們用自己的方式來代表這些儀式，還有那個縮小的嬰兒娃娃

heads somehow evoke that.

頭某種程度上喚起了。

Oh I love that there's a pen.

哦，我喜歡有一支筆。

Oh my God that's where it is!

哦，我的上帝，這就是它的位置！

The images from the Book of the Dead also served as a visual reference for the multi-level

亡靈之書中的影像也是多層次的視覺參考。

main set too.

主集也。

The Met, the Metropolitan Opera is kind of the stage.

大都會，大都會歌劇院算是舞臺。

Did you try singing in the house?

你試過在屋裡唱歌嗎？

Absolutely not.

絕對不是。

You do it.

你來吧

[Sings “Ahhhhhhhhh”]

[唱著 "啊啊啊啊"]

It has a nice acoustic!

它有一個很好的原聲!

If I told you, you're going to come see a minimalist three and a half hour opera about

如果我告訴你，你會來看一場極簡主義的三個半小時的歌劇，講述的就是

ancient Egypt where there's no real story and it's sung in ancient Egyptian, you'd think,

古埃及，那裡沒有真正的故事，而且是用古埃及語唱的，你會覺得。

man, there's no way I'm going to that.

男人，有沒有辦法，我要去。

And yet I bet you're going to love it.

然而我敢打賭，你一定會喜歡它。