So, yesterday I had my first rehearsal in this new production of You Can Look But You'd Better Not Touch.

This show is my darling, my only love, and I realized that I was happier before we started rehearsing than I was likely to be afterwards, as it was all anticipation, like Christmas morning.

I was a bit worried as well, because I didn't know the guy playing my partner would be. I mean, I knew that he wouldn't be Kevin, there was really no way that that could happen, and that helped the show in the past that Kevin and I had a longstanding relationship before doing it, he was probably my best male friend in the company at the time, and the trust level in this show must be extremely high.

When I thought about who was my best friend in the company now, that's Fran, who would be great in the role and whom I'd love to do the show with, but who was not in fact the person cast.

So yesterday, I met this man this John, who has to follow this act, and he seemed very nice. Young, dark hair, cute, I formed no particular opinions right away. Bev, the director, I knew, but had never worked with before. She seemed very open on the phone, though, to my basically doing my thing, that she wasn't planning on changing my performance, which is pretty much set in stone no matter how I think that I could change it if directed to do so.

Then John and I did the read-through, and it was awful. My blood ran cold. I just gave my performance that is mine (Anne Elk), as though he was reading the lines the right way, hearing Kevin in my head and basically trying to keep my heart from sinking into my toes.

He was doing this voice thing, you see. The character is a redneck, a pussyhound, the play takes place on a riverbank in Missouri, and he was doing this bizarre voice like a foreign diplomat robot. I thought, "Well, this show just went right into the crapper."

We finished, Bev turned to me and discussed costume a little bit, then turned to John and gently enquired about the voice. He answered that, though it seems that redneck is the way to go, he thought that he would try something different, he didn't want to give the obvious performance. In my head I'm screaming, "There's the obvious performance and there's the entirely wrong performance, you choose!", but Bev is a much nicer director than I will ever be, and she talked to him for about ten minutes, talking him around to doing the script as written.

And we read it again, and he was fine. More than fine. He pretty much imitated my accent, and it sounded just right. And I gave this huge inner sign of relief. This production won't kill my show.

Today's horoscope:
Time and energy constraints pull you between love and work. Take care of business during the day and romance in the evening.

One year ago today:
I just pushed a button! I need to sit down!

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Last Updated Mon 19 February 9:37:09 2001