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Oh--the PLAY.
Jul. 25th, 2004 11:22 amFor those of you who don't know me elsewhere, I'm playing the lead in Kiss Me Kate in West Memphis. Today is the matinee performance, where we close the show and strike the set and go out and get our respective drinks on. It's been a generally pleasant experience; shows usually are (with a couple of exceptions).
Friday night was opening night, and we had just about everything that could possibly go wrong go wrong. I didn't get the steps to my big dance number until last Tuesday, so it has looked kinda pathetic for most of the show, and we're always cutting it short because I take too many counts for one thing or another (any flaws in dance numbers I have to attribute to my own lack of skill and/or training; the ladies I'm dancing with do a fine job, given who they have to work with). During the finale of Act I, I toss a whip around the actress playing Kate and inadvertently pull her onto her derriere, which isn't a total loss and fits well with the scene, but shocks the orchestra conductor so much that she doesn't manage to come in when I start singing later on. Stop, catch a breath, check to see that somebody in the orchestra's paying attention, and begin again. Then, in Act II, one of the sets catches a drop and a leg while moving onstage, and it takes us several minutes of dead stage time to extract them. Then the lights come up before they're properly set and we find ourselves doing the scene with several key pieces of furnniture in odd locations.
Could have been worse, of course. Nobody's fallen into the orchestra pit yet, and we're covering our mistakes well.
Last night was a significantly better show, with a responsive audience that laughed and applauded when appropriate. The crowds are on the smallish side, which is sad as it's probably the best show I've been involved in on this particular stage.
In a scary-funny note, my wife's (Amy) former in-laws attended Saturday night's performance. By all accounts, they're not particularly fond of me, which is understandable, but it had to be weird for them, seeing the guy who feeds and clothes their grandchildren spanking his leading lady on stage. I can't wrap my brain around the very Jerry Springer-ness of what would go through their heads during the performance.
Friday night was opening night, and we had just about everything that could possibly go wrong go wrong. I didn't get the steps to my big dance number until last Tuesday, so it has looked kinda pathetic for most of the show, and we're always cutting it short because I take too many counts for one thing or another (any flaws in dance numbers I have to attribute to my own lack of skill and/or training; the ladies I'm dancing with do a fine job, given who they have to work with). During the finale of Act I, I toss a whip around the actress playing Kate and inadvertently pull her onto her derriere, which isn't a total loss and fits well with the scene, but shocks the orchestra conductor so much that she doesn't manage to come in when I start singing later on. Stop, catch a breath, check to see that somebody in the orchestra's paying attention, and begin again. Then, in Act II, one of the sets catches a drop and a leg while moving onstage, and it takes us several minutes of dead stage time to extract them. Then the lights come up before they're properly set and we find ourselves doing the scene with several key pieces of furnniture in odd locations.
Could have been worse, of course. Nobody's fallen into the orchestra pit yet, and we're covering our mistakes well.
Last night was a significantly better show, with a responsive audience that laughed and applauded when appropriate. The crowds are on the smallish side, which is sad as it's probably the best show I've been involved in on this particular stage.
In a scary-funny note, my wife's (Amy) former in-laws attended Saturday night's performance. By all accounts, they're not particularly fond of me, which is understandable, but it had to be weird for them, seeing the guy who feeds and clothes their grandchildren spanking his leading lady on stage. I can't wrap my brain around the very Jerry Springer-ness of what would go through their heads during the performance.
