Uuuugggghhh

Friday shows.  Horrible horrible horrible.  I think I sight read my part better than I played it this evening.  There’s something about the combination of the end of a work week and reacquainting yourself with the show after five days off that tends to spell disaster.  I was losing concentration halfway through the first act and was absolutely hopeless during the second.

If I can, I crochet during the dialogue scenes (some shows are more amenable to this than others).  I use it as a my “out of it” gauge.  If I can’t follow the pattern, I’m in trouble.  Tonight I not only got lost in the pattern, but had to rip two rows out because they were wrong. 

If only you could do the same thing with notes.

Two Unusuals for New Year’s Eve Eve

Actually, technically it is now New Year’s Eve, but these two events took place when we were still firmly in December 30th.

The first: a sight I never thought I’d see.  I was leaving the theater after rehearsal this evening and passed an actor heading back to the dressing rooms.  He was wearing (only) fishnets and hot pink briefs.  With matching eye shadow.  I wish I could figure out how to play this music so that I can actually have FUN with this show.

The second:  I was told that I talk “just enough”.  This is very weird to me because most people think I’m relatively quiet.  But, I guess in comparison with my fellow woodwinds (one who is more quiet than I and one who will not shut up - I suspect I will be making weekly batches of bourbon balls so that the rest of us can cope her), I come in as Baby Bear: just right. 

So, I’m sure you’re dying to now how La Cage is going, considering that we open New Year’s Eve.  After two long days of rehearsals (yesterday and today we had 4 PM calls; today we ran the entire show twice), I have graduated from “oh shit” to “oh crap”.  They have FINALLY set up a sound system so that we are projected into the house.  Which means, of course, that we are now projected into the house.  I have a microphone dangling over my head picking up my every note (they can actually hear our page turns), which right now is very bad because I’m still spending huge amounts of time fumbling my way through the music.  I don’t think I have ever lived in more terror of a song than “Song in the Sand” – I’m sure I have some lovely harmonies and descants…if I could just figure out how they fit in.  And it’s all exposed, so it’s super obvious when I’m wrong. 

The cast have been working their tails off (for our 4 PM calls they were given noon calls), and the cabaret numbers really look great (what I can watch of them, anyway), complete with tap shoes and ostrich feathers.  Most of the cast are men; I think there are four women – which means the women’s restrooms are virtually deserted.  I even noticed that the dressing rooms were swapped.

In honor of New Year’s, we pit dwellers have designated tomorrow night Fancy Dress Night.  I would have liked to finish the dress that’s been on my dummy for months and worn it, but alas…not enough time.  Since it’s a summery frock, I suspect I would have been too cold anyway.  Instead, I will wear the dress I made for my grandmother’s funeral.  While not quite as dressy, it at least has the benefit of having long sleeves.  And, it shows a lot of cleavage (a stupid cutting/sewing mistake on my part).  Not that anyone in this cast will even care.