One lens to view your task as a performer is as a problem solver.
The director gives you a weird direction, and you don’t know what to do with it. She’s clearly wrong, right? She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, right? My interpretation is the best, right?
Wrong. Getting stuck on those thoughts will sabotage your creative process. You have a problem, so solve it: what would it look like if you followed her direction? Figure it out. Find the pathway to make it work.
The same is true if there’s something weird in the script or if there’s some weird harmony. Clearly, the composer or librettist just made a dumb choice here. Clearly, they were pressed for time and forgot they left this in here. Clearly, no one will notice if I just say or sing this without much intention behind it.
Wrong. Solve the problem. Assume it’s intentional. Why are you singing that? What kind of creative discoveries can you make if you accept the anomalies existent as valid?
If you need to gin up your courage, remember that everyone involved in the production is also trying to solve problems, and they need your help. The director is also wrestling with weird stuff in the script. Your other actors are trying to solve the problem of some of your interpretive choices. The conductor is trying to solve the weird tempo marking, harmonies and dynamic shifts.
Solve the problem.
