The rabbi and Princess Delphinium get festive at The Bracebridge Dinner at the Ahwahnee
The Bracebridge Dinner at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park
The Bracebridge Dinner, the renaissance feast and musical comedy at Yosemite each Christmas is celebrating a remarkable 84th season this year.
The festivities have continued to evolve since the time of Ansel Adams, under the loving care of producer and director Andrea Fulton. The devoted Andrea has been with the Ahwahnee Hotel’s production for years. Ansel Adams created the role of ward of the squire for Andrea when she was five years old. She’s been the producer and director for years and re-imagined and re-wrote the entire production in 2000. 
Bracebridge and nature seem to keep Andrea vibrant. How does she do it and why? Bracebridge, her life's work, seems to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the lucky few who experience it.
Here are Bracebridge videos.
A note about honey lavender cheesecake at Mission Beach Café
I sat down for brunch with Andrea at the Mission Beach Café at Guerrero and 14th Street last Thursday. I had driven from a chilly and misty Fillmore to the sun. She and I tried the corn and squash soup which was lovely with fresh white kernels in the bisque and a fresh flower laying on top. I was really there for the pastry chef’s honey lavender cheesecake. It’s a creation of Alan Carter, pastry chef and co-owner of the restuarant (missionbeachcafesf.com).
The honey lavender cheesecake was creamy and light and really tasted of honey and lavender with a crisp shortbread crust. It even had the aroma of honey and lavender. Divine. Another companion enjoyed an organic fresh fig and almond salad created from Farmers’ Market finds; plus beautiful fluffy pancakes with apple compote and maple syrup. At night the bistro turns into a candlelit supper place with jazz playing.
Andrea Fulton and I chatted for a quick 90 minutes.
Creative freedom
Andrea is autonomous in her job as star/co-producer and director. Andrea enjoys complete creative freedom. (Like myself she’s never been good at working for other people.) While she’s happy with the new script and new characters she has added, she continues to tweak and change the music. Meanwhile, December approaches so she has once again begun rehearsals for this 84th annual event in her home in El Sobrante. Most of the performers come from the Bay Area.
San Francisco Opera Choristers at Bracebridge
Several choristers from San Francisco Opera peform at Bracebridge. San Francisco Opera and Bracebridge are about the same age, with San Francisco Opera in it's 87th season and Bracebridge approaching it's 84th.
Many singers have been with the Andrea Fulton Chorale for twenty or twenty five years. Mezzo soprano Joy Graham lives in my hometown of San Leandro.
Pedro Rodelas the primo tenore who sings the comedic chef Pierre, has an English degree from my alma mater U.C. Berkeley and still lives in Berkeley. He's from Fremont and has performed with Berkeley Opera.
Jimmy Kansau is also with SF Opera and he’s originally from Venezuela. He performs Spanish carols with Pedro at Yosemite.
Claudia Siefer is with the opera and performs solo parts.
Bass Bill Pickersgill lives in El Sobrante very close to Andrea and got her into riding a recumbent bicycle. Andrea wrote in Bill’s part as the Woodsman to tie the Bracebridge experience to nature. She wrote his line, trees whisper to you what your heart is longing to say. The Woodsman urges the squire, his childhood chum, to get back to the woods to see what life is all about.
During the rehearsal process, Andrea has the actors write out their own character, the relationships with each other and to each of the principals and to Bracebridge. She says it worked miracles in creating a vibrant, full-scale theatrical production.
The music similarly has become a full-bodied sound, Andrea says, not tutti frutti little carols one might expect from a Renaissance production. She’s added spotlit dances in the aisle with twirling skirts and capes. She added the song peformed by herself and Pedro, Chef Pierre, as they fight over what to serve.
It’s the cooking term song, she went to the dictionary and used every cooking word she could find. It’s set to Old Tannenbaum. She even sang me a few lines there at the table at Mission Beach Café on this warm Thursday afternoon.
The Bracebridge story originates with Washington Irving
The play comes from Washington Irving, creator of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. A school chum took Washington Irving to his home in England and Irving wrote about the ways of the manor house. This became The Sketchbook, of which Bracebridge is a few chapters.
Bracebridge itself has an historian who is working on a book.
Before Andrea rewrote the script at the millennium, the squire had 16 lines. The housekeeper had two lines. Pedro’s chef Pierre is the only original along with the jester.
Always new music on the menu at Bracebridge
As for Bracebridge there’s always new music says Andrea but the play is the same.
Andrea does all the work in the Bay Area. She holds one rehearsal at the Ahwahnee before opening night. The waitstaff at the Ahwahnee rehearse on their own. So much of it is timed. She feels opening night is usually the best.
Here's the real chef, Percy Whatley, Executive Chef of The Ahwahnee.
Here’s the menu the guests will actually enjoy during the 2009 performance by Executive Chef Percy Whatley of The Ahwahnee.
Peacock Pie?
The performance involves oversized replicas of the squire’s menu. The peacock stands eleven feet high with 1300 feathers to create the peacock tail.
Diversity amid the cast
Getting back to the music. Bracebridge has its own CD recorded at Skywalker Ranch, which is packaged with a concert CD on which Andrea sings Santa Baby.
Bracebridge really isn’t for children although in the production Squire Bracebridge’s daughter is a nine year old and there are some child extras.
During The Bracebridge Dinner the Venezuelan Jimmy Kansau performs a Spanish medley of nativity songs with Pedro Rodelas. There’s Rio Rio Chio in Spanish, which involves clapping. The singers also perform vignettes, with action in the aisles and at tables.
The new costumes have been designed by Melissa Wortman of San Anselmo. Andrea says they are cinematic quality, ornate, layer on layer for dimension and interest.
Going digital and the end of the lottery
Andrea has a blog at www.AndreaFulton.Blogspot.com.
Here she posts the photo Ansel Adams took of Andrea in 1950, the year she debuted in Bracebridge as a five-year-old. Ansel used a Hasselblad camera for the first time and he took the photo around the world with him on the photo tour. Andrea also wrote the story “Going to Christmas”.
Andrea has seen some administrative changes, too, such as the end of the lottery for tickets to Bracebridge.
In addition to the eight Bracebridge dinners, there are six concerts by the Andrea Fulton Chorale during the Bracebridge season, featuring holiday favorites, opera and show tunes. These concerts take place on nights alternating with the Dinner and they are free to anybody.
Social pages
Andrea has started using Facebook, Twitter and the Internet to promote Bracebridge. She can use Facebook for invitations for dinners.
Bringing Christmas to the valley from the Bay Area
Other changes Andrea has considered would be the creation of a second or “B” cast. Back in the 1980s the cast was small and the chorus could come in and go out. The problem is that the current cast of sixty is so large there probably wouldn't housing for a double cast. The cast stays at the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls and shuttles to the Ahwahnee for performances.
The spirit of Bracebridge and the holidays is in the air throughout the show's run. Andrea says the cast brings a ton of things with them to help celebrate the season, including trees and gifts for their rooms.
Every Christmas Eve Andrea reads the Nutcracker accompanied with music, in the winter club room at The Ahwahnee for children and adults alike. Through the windows one can see snow falling while she reads.
Note visitors have other choices of accommodations besides the Bracebridge packages including the Evergreen Lodge, http://www.evergreenlodge.com/traditionalcabins.html. Park accommodations at
http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations.aspx.
Yosemite's olde English Ahwahnee embraces 84th season of renaissance festivities
Bracebridge's Chef Pierre, Pedro Rodelas, celebrates anniversary of Berkeley Opera
Pedro Rodelas tenor for all seasons
Philharmonia Baroque period instrument orchestra and Handel's Wicked Queen, Athalia
Athalia, Handel's Wicked Queen, oratorio for English opera fans (part 2 of 3)
Philharmonia Baroque conquers Handel's Wicked Queen with counter tenor Robin Blaze (part one)
Susan Graham to sing at PBO and hosted The Audition documentary
The Audtion broadcast from the Met
Brotherhood and sisterhood, love and peace forevermore
Berkeley Opera celebrates with some jewels (part two of three)
Berkeley Opera celebrates with bubbly Ruth Ann Swenson and champagne (part one of three)
Comments