Definition

Supernumerary actors are usually amateur character artists who train under professional
direction to create a believable scene.

The term's original use, from the Latin supernumerarius, meant someone paid to appear
on stage in crowd scenes or in the case of opera as non-singing small parts. The word can
still be found used for such in theatre and opera. It is the equivalent of "extra" in the
motion picture industry. Any established opera company will have a supernumerary core
of artists to enhance the opera experience. The Metropolitan Opera (Met) in New York
and the Washington National Opera(WNO) are known for the high profile and seasoned
supernumeraries. The WNO saw its supernumerary golden age under the direction of
English actress Jennifer Crier Johnston who was supernumerary director for eight years
(1998-2006). Ms. Johnston belonged to the select movie extras that appeared in classic
Hollywood movies such as My Fair Lady, The Unsinkable Mollie Brown and The Sound
of Music. The Washington post ran an exhaustive article on supernumeraries in
November 2002 in which Ms. Johnston describes in detail the fine craft of a
supernumerary in the opera:

"A fine line exists between super and bit player. At times, it takes more than holding a
spear correctly; at times, it takes acting. Ms. Johnston cast herself as the companion to the
fiery countess in this season's Washington Opera production of Tchaikovsky's "The
Queen of Spades" because the performer who played the countess changed her approach
to the companion every night. "I knew it had to be someone who could act, someone who
could take this Russian lady," she says. "You never knew what she was going to do. I had
to react to whatever she did." Other times, a super can go way overboard. Ms. Lucato
recalls performing in "Faust" for the Florida Grand Opera in Miami, playing, along with
several other women, a courtesan to the devil. In one "really sensual scene" that found the
courtesans massaging Faust as he lay on a bed, she says, one of the courtesan supers lost
all self-control. She jumped on Faust and began to make love to him. "She said, 'Well,
this is my one moment, and I'm goin' for it,'" Ms. Lucato says. "She wasn't even supposed
to be near him, and she just out of nowhere jumped on him. "She was gone after that."
"Of course she was," snaps an aghast Ms. Johnston. "Once you're out there, there's
nothing that can protect anybody," Ms. Lucato says. "So you have to get people
knowledgeable in drama and acting." • • • It is a delicate balance. A super is not a
principal or even a member of the chorus. Any show needs crowds and extras, but a super
must fill the role with humility."

The WNO has had some major supernumerary personalities on stage such as U.S.
Supreme Court Justices Ginsberg and Kennedy who made their last appearance in the
opening of Strauss comedic opera Die Fledermaus. Other famed supernumeraries include
Patrizia DiZebba, a veteran of the WNO stage for the last 25 years, Michael Walker, a
recent addition to the "A" list of supernumeraries that included Victor Yager and
Fernando Varisco. In 2005 Walker, Yager and Varisco were invited by the well known
opera director Cindy Oxberry, who has been assistant director for the WNO for over 10
years, to work in a brand new production of The Washington Savoyards'The Mikado.
Oxberry's style and force were obvious in these performances and the Washington Post
agreed that "The Savoyards fully captured the energy of Arthur Sullivan's inimitable
melodiousness and the thrust of William Schwenck Gilbert's satiric dialogue, riddled --
perhaps a little too obviously -- with updated political jabs."

[edit] Typical Supernumerary Work

Supernumeraries are usually amateur character artists who train under professional
direction to create a believable scene. They almost become part of the props and give a
sense of credibility to scenes where crowds, court assistants, lackeys, peasants or a
variety of period characters are needed. Ms. Johnston's style emerged through her
experiences in Hollywood and the British theater and she coached all of her
supernumeraries until the character, the movements, pose and demeanor matched the
period of the opera being presented. Rehearsals can last from 2 weeks to several months
depending on the complexity of the performances. Some operas require over 50
supernumeraries. Work is assigned according to the ability to look the part and in many
cases by the costume size since many of the productions are borrowed from other major
opera houses. The Varisco-Johnston style of "supering" emphasizes an understated
performance that doesn't "steal focus from the main actors" but it is still vibrant and
effusive. Other styles have evolved like the method acting of Yager and Walker.
Supernumerary work keeps evolving as operas evolve. There has been a merger of
techniques used in Broadway, movies and opera. A good illustration of this type of
merging will be seen for the second time at the WNO 2006 Fall opera season with the
presentation of Puccini's Madama Butterfly where Polish director Trellinsky, originally a
movie director, will present his innovative production which uses an extensive cast of
supernumeraries as Japanese fishermen, Yamadories and live statues. The Washington
Bladetook notice of these statues and described them effectively:

"A wall of Japanese statues come to life and drop flower petals from the heights of the
opera stage at Pinkerton’s impending return..."

Having said this, directors sometimes take too many artistic liberties with some operas
and the final result is not what is to be expected. This can be illustrated with Marta
Domingo's production of Traviata presented at the Washington National Opera in May
2004. Supernumerary Varisco played the part of death during the last act and this is what
the Washington Post said about this supernumerary character:

"Stage director Marta ("Mrs.") Domingo seems to have taken the Hippocratic oath as her
inspiration for this "Traviata": She does no harm. Her conception is pretty generic,
though -- ballrooms and sickbeds, bright lights and heavy curtains -- and the few
directorial "touches" I could discern (the shadow of death marching by with a scythe
outside Violetta's window) were not especially effective. Imagine a production, any
production, of "La Traviata" and you'll probably have a pretty good idea of this one."
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'''[[Supernumerary]] actors''' are usually amateur [[character actors]] who train under
professional direction to create a believable scene.

== Definition ==

The term's original use, from the Latin supernumerarius, meant someone paid to appear
on stage in crowd scenes or in the case of opera as non-singing small parts. The word can
still be found used for such in theatre and opera. It is the equivalent of "extra" in the
motion picture industry. Any established opera company will have a supernumerary core
of artists to enhance the opera experience. The Metropolitan Opera (Met) in New York
and the [http://www.dc-opera.org/ Washington National Opera](WNO) are known for the
high profile and seasoned supernumeraries. The WNO saw its supernumerary golden age
under the direction of English actress Jennifer Crier Johnston who was supernumerary
director for eight years (1998-2006). Ms. Johnston belonged to the select movie extras
that appeared in classic Hollywood movies such as My Fair Lady, The Unsinkable Mollie
Brown and The Sound of Music. The Washington post ran an exhaustive article on
supernumeraries in November 2002 in which Ms. Johnston describes in detail the fine
craft of a supernumerary in the opera:

"A fine line exists between super and bit player. At times, it takes more than holding a
spear correctly; at times, it takes acting. Ms. Johnston cast herself as the companion to the
fiery countess in this season's Washington Opera production of Tchaikovsky's "The
Queen of Spades" because the performer who played the countess changed her approach
to the companion every night.

"I knew it had to be someone who could act, someone who could take this Russian lady,"
she says. "You never knew what she was going to do. I had to react to whatever she did."

Other times, a super can go way overboard. Ms. Lucato recalls performing in "Faust" for
the Florida Grand Opera in Miami, playing, along with several other women, a courtesan
to the devil. In one "really sensual scene" that found the courtesans massaging Faust as he
lay on a bed, she says, one of the courtesan supers lost all self-control. She jumped on
Faust and began to make love to him.

"She said, 'Well, this is my one moment, and I'm goin' for it,'" Ms. Lucato says. "She
wasn't even supposed to be near him, and she just out of nowhere jumped on him.

"She was gone after that."

"Of course she was," snaps an aghast Ms. Johnston.

"Once you're out there, there's nothing that can protect anybody," Ms. Lucato says. "So
you have to get people knowledgeable in drama and acting."

•••

It is a delicate balance. A super is not a principal or even a member of the chorus. Any
show needs crowds and extras, but a super must fill the role with humility."

The WNO has had some major supernumerary personalities on stage such as U.S.
Supreme Court Justices Ginsberg and Kennedy who made their last appearance in the
opening of Strauss comedic opera Die Fledermaus. Other famed supernumeraries include
Patrizia DiZebba, a veteran of the WNO stage for the last 25 years, Michael Walker, a
recent addition to the "A" list of supernumeraries that included Victor Yager and
Fernando Varisco. In 2005 Walker, Yager and Varisco were invited by the well known
opera director Cindy Oxberry, who has been assistant director for the WNO for over 10
years, to work in a brand new production of [http://www.savoyards.org/ The Washington
Savoyards'][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mikado The Mikado]. Oxberry's style and
force were obvious in these performances and the Washington Post agreed that "The
Savoyards fully captured the energy of Arthur Sullivan's inimitable melodiousness and
the thrust of William Schwenck Gilbert's satiric dialogue, riddled -- perhaps a little too
obviously -- with updated political jabs."

==Typical Supernumerary Work ==

Supernumeraries are usually amateur character artists who train under professional
direction to create a believable scene. They almost become part of the props and give a
sense of credibility to scenes where crowds, court assistants, lackeys, peasants or a
variety of period characters are needed. Ms. Johnston's style emerged through her
experiences in Hollywood and the British theater and she coached all of her
supernumeraries until the character, the movements, pose and demeanor matched the
period of the opera being presented. Rehearsals can last from 2 weeks to several months
depending on the complexity of the performances. Some operas require over 50
supernumeraries. Work is assigned according to the ability to look the part and in many
cases by the costume size since many of the productions are borrowed from other major
opera houses. The Varisco-Johnston style of "supering" emphasizes an understated
performance that doesn't "steal focus from the main actors" but it is still vibrant and
effusive. Other styles have evolved like the method acting of Yager and Walker.
Supernumerary work keeps evolving as operas evolve. There has been a merger of
techniques used in Broadway, movies and opera. A good illustration of this type of
merging will be seen for the second time at the WNO 2006 Fall opera season with the
presentation of Puccini's Madama Butterfly where Polish director Trellinsky, originally a
movie director, will present his innovative production which uses an extensive cast of
supernumeraries as Japanese fishermen, Yamadories and live statues. The
[http://washingtonblade.com Washington Blade]took notice of these statues and
described them effectively:

"A wall of Japanese statues come to life and drop flower petals from the heights of the
opera stage at Pinkerton’s impending return..."

Having said this, directors sometimes take too many artistic liberties with some operas
and the final result is not what is to be expected. This can be illustrated with Marta
Domingo's production of Traviata presented at the Washington National Opera in May
2004. Supernumerary Varisco played the part of death during the last act and this is what
the Washington Post said about this supernumerary character:

"Stage director Marta ("Mrs.") Domingo seems to have taken the Hippocratic oath as her
inspiration for this "Traviata": She does no harm. Her conception is pretty generic,
though -- ballrooms and sickbeds, bright lights and heavy curtains -- and the few
directorial "touches" I could discern (the shadow of death marching by with a scythe
outside Violetta's window) were not especially effective. Imagine a production, any
production, of "La Traviata" and you'll probably have a pretty good idea of this one."

== See also ==

*''For a list of notable character actors, see [[List of character actors]]

*[[List of fat actors]]

== Examples of supernumerary character roles ==

*[[Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture|ethnic stereotype]]

*[[femme fatale]]

*[[gunslinger]]

*[[sidekick]]

*[[town drunk]]

*[[villain]]

*[[hooker with a heart of gold]]

*[[scene stealer]]

*[[neurotic]]

*[[best friend]]

*[[confidant]]

==References==

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

<div class="references-small">

* 'Patrick Butters. Life onstage as opera 'super. Washington Post, 2002.

* The Savoyards' 'Mikado.' Washington Post, November 2005.

* Scott Vogel. 'Making a Spectacle.' Washington Post, September 23, 2005.

* Michael Walker. 'Placido Domingo Loans Select Supers to Help Beleaguered Local
Company.' WNO Supernumerary News. November 2005.

*The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), 5,448 pages, is the
best, and by far the largest, general reference in the English language. ISBN 0-333-
73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
*The Viking Opera Guide (1994), 1,328 pages, ISBN 0-670-81292-7

*Opera, the Rough Guide, by Matthew Boyden et al. (1997), 672 pages, ISBN 1-85828-
138-5

*Opera: A Concise History, by Leslie Orrey and Rodney Milne, World of Art, Thames &
Hudson

</div>

{{col-end}}

{{Unreferenced|date=February 2007}}

[[Category:Articles for deletion]]

[[Category:Acting]]

[[Category:Character actors]]

[[Category:Theatre]]