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For a major opera company, putting on a classic American musical like Show Boat is a joy and a challenge. To get an early look at how the effort would be received by members of the public, we invited avid tweeters to apply to live tweet the final dress rehearsal of the show on May 30.

18 live tweeters, armed with charged gadgets and the hashtag #keepsrolling, kept up a rolling commentary on the action.

Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu knows a thing or two about Alfredo Germont—the dashing young man who falls in love with, is heart-broken by, reconnects with, and ultimately loses the love of his life. He has performed La Traviata around the world at many of the most important opera houses and opposite some of opera's most saught-after leading ladies as the fickle, beautiful and terminally ill courtesan Violetta. He returns to San Francisco Opera to perform the role with Nicole Cabell as Violetta and Vladamir Stoyanov as Giorgio Germont. What has Saimir learned from his many portrayals of Alfredo? We asked him 5 questions to find out.

American soprano Heidi Stober makes her role debut as the innocent, but resilient Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat. Heidi made her San Francisco Opera debut in the 2010-11 Season as Sophie in Werther and has since returned as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Atalanta in Xerxes, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Nannetta in Falstaff. Currently a principal artist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Heidi took time out of her busy performance schedule to answer our five questions. Take a look and be sure to catch her thrilling performance in Show Boat at San Francisco Opera this summer.

You might know actress Harriet Harris from her recurring roles on hit TV shows like Frasier, DesperateHousewives, Ally McBeal, Nurse Betty, and more. Or from her many feature films, or her Tony Award-winning turn on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie. But one place that Harris has yet to make her debut is on the San Francisco Opera stage, which she will do in this summer's grand production of Show Boat. In today's blog post, we ask Harris six questions about her experience here at San Francisco Opera.

John Bolton is one of a number of "triple threats" in the cast of Show Boat. A staple on Broadway stages, Bolton has brought characters as diverse as King Arthur in Spamalot, the Evil Critic in Curtains, and The Old Man (the dad) in AChristmas Story: The Musical to Broadway audiences. But the Great White Way is not the only place you may have seen John Bolton. No matter what your taste in television, chances are you've been addicted to at least one of the shows he's been on--whether it's HBO's Boardwalk Empire where he portrays Carl Switzer, the CW's Gossip Girl where he spent four seasons as Bruce Caplan, or The Good Wife, Law and Order or even All My Children and As the World Turns. But this month Bolton is here in San Francisco starring as comedian, singer, dancer and all around good guy Frank Schultz in Show Boat. We can assure you that what he's bringing to this production is unlike anything the War Memorial Opera House stage has seen. And we mean that in a good way!

Introduction

Backstage at San Francisco Opera is a fascinating, fast-moving, mysterious and sacred space for the Company’s singers, musicians, dancers, technicians and production crews. Musical and staging rehearsals are on-going, scenery is loaded in and taken out, lighting cues are set, costumes and wigs are moved around and everything is made ready to receive the audience. From the principal singers, chorus and orchestra musicians to the creative teams for each opera, in addition to the many talented folks who don’t take a bow on stage, this blog offers unique insight, both thought-provoking and light-hearted, into the life backstage at San Francisco Opera.