Ouch my ear hurts

We are in the end rehearsals for "Tannhäuser" right now. It goes up on Friday. God, talk about a hulk of a piece. It is about 4 hours long and is just as dramatic as can possible be. I really like the piece, but it is tiring me out. The chorus part, that I sing full voice, is extremely hard, especially when asked to do it more than once a day. Optimally, it would be best to do it once every two days at most.

I've been paying attention to the two Heldentenors that sing the title role, and have been learning a lot from them. Really, in most ways, I am learning not what to do from them. It is always a crap shoot to know whether they are going to actually make it to the end of the opera without blood spewing from their chords. Neither of them seem to concentrate of pacing themselves till the end (maybe this has something to do with the fact that neither of them has any volume ever than fortissississimo.)

On a lighter note, my new kitten is so cute, but she is going to be a handful. She has more energy than Chris and I combined, and we have the scratches on our legs (even if they were accidental) to prove it.