May 2004


opening night ">opening night

In all, a success. Significantly less nervous today as indicated by my calmer stomach. A light pack blew out again during the show but was fearlessly gotten back on. C was there with his laugh which I’d forgotten to tell my castmates about. “Who is the guy in the second row?” My boyfriend! I never really got until I started performing how generous that laugh is, like a birdcall, saying hello to the actors plus getting the audience as worked up as they should be. It’s possible that they, the audience, were taken aback by the opening dance number. There was clapping, though, during the Esther Williams section. About the dance, DH pointed out what I hadn’t seen before, a slight resemblance to Urinetown. Very, very slight. The sweat and febreeze were flowing backstage with abandon. We have a drag queen and 2 former makeup artists on board. Watching A’s eye makeup getting done and G’s cleavage bronzed was like being five again and watching my mom get ready for church. Had an idea for a physical adjustment to one scene and was able to go ahead and try it out for the first time last night. I think it worked but I’m not sure. Did I mention how hard it is to have so many costume changes but not many lines? A lot of scenes where 2 of us are onstage, reacting and physically/energetically part of the scene, but without text. It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. A fine balance between being interesting but not so interesting that we upstage the person speaking, and staying natural. What else. The rest of the cast was fabulous. All the boy band has to do is appear onstage in their costumes and the crowd goes wild. And then they talk and it gets even funnier. “Straight men listen to Sondheim musicals, too.” A few standouts. The audience! They laugh at the strangest things and seem non amused by others. Plus we have pink t-shirts for sale now! Spray-painted with the band names: Cunning Stunts, Burger Kings & Robin Swords. And I think an actor slipped and said Stunning Cunts last night but we knew that was doing to happen.

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