1 June
Check out this swell new design from Saundra! Even with a beautiful new baby, she still takes the time to send me this for June.
She's so energetic!
Can I really be getting a cold? God, I hope not. Nothing like spending the first really hot, summery day blowing your nose.
I have been congratulating myself for not losing my voice during the course of this show. When I was doing Before Breakfast, I lost my voice the very first time I had to do the scream at the end at full volume, but I've been rehearsing this show full out from the start, except for the few times that we did it in someone's apartment, and I haven't had the tiniest moment of a sore throat or a hoarse voice.
Of course, if I get a cold, all bets are off. Of course, we only have to do it twice more, but I don't much want a cold at Melissa's wedding next week either. Actually, when it comes right down to it, if I have a say in the matter, I don't particularly want a cold at all.
So, we opened last night, such as it was.
I have no doubt that everyone in the evening thinks that I am the biggest bitch imaginable, but I have no patience with the sloppy way this entire production has been run. First of all, I got there at 6p to rehearse John and May Doe, the show that I am doing a bit part in, but also, of course, because it's a 7p show, which means that I'm supposed to get there at 6p anyway.
I was talking to someone, and I asked if there was a 9p show, and she said, "No, there isn't a 9p show, because we're an 8p show!" "No, we're 7p!" "Honestly, we're at 8p." "Seriously?" "Seriously." "Mother fucker!"
So I sought out our director. "This is an 8p show?" "Yes, it is." "You told us that it was a 7p show!" "It was, but then it changed." "And you didn't think to mention it?"
Of course, he got the dates wrong, why would I expect to get the time right? And it's better to make that mistake than to do it the other way around, but I was still pretty goddamn irritated.
So that was the first thing, the second thing was that the show order was suddenly changed. Of course, I knew that Kirsten had told Tony to re-order the shows, but they weren't reordered on Wednesday, he waited until forty minutes before we opened to do so.
I don't mind so much, since now I am not following that appalling happiness play, and I hadn't gotten into the wrong costume yet or anything, but honestly, I had to re-work my thinking and make certain that everyone who was supposed to be moving my furniture would still be doing so, and take care of the stuff that I was supposed to be moving, and it was all a bunch of shit that I shouldn't have had to be thinking of on my opening night.
The third thing was the curtain call. We did not rehearse a curtain call at tech, we did not rehearse it on Wednesday. Nobody said the word "curtain call" until I asked what we would be doing about it. Then Tony said that we would not, in fact, be doing a big bow at the end, but individual bows after the individual shows.
At that point I said in a loud clear voice, "Okay, I don't care about the other two shows, but the two that I am in will not not have messy curtain calls! Stand together, bow, then off the American stage, there will be no meandering, there will be no lollygagging, it will be fast and it will be neat!"
At that point, one of the guys in one of the other shows, said, "Well, my show will be the complete opposite, there will be a full dance number in the middle of our curtain call!" and I started laughing.
And yes, I know that I was acting like the biggest diva on the planet, but I loathe sloppy curtain calls, I think that nothing is worse than seeing these actors wandering around like baby ducks, bobbing their heads in an embarrassed manner at the audience, yech. Bow like a man, not like an asshole.
Anyway, after all that shit, the show itself went reasonably well. You know, except for the fact that it was something like a thousand degrees in the theatre and I have to expend a huge amount of energy in Naomi and end up losing about five pounds in sweat.
And because the audience was so hot, they didn't so much howl with laughter as chuckle occasionally, but I wasn't upset, I could feel them liking the show, they just did not have the energy to laugh aloud.
As far as the other show goes, I actually am having a swell time doing it. It's short, I just have the one line, but I can just sort of keep acting and filling the space all during the show, and then I die and just have to lie still.
The tricky part is that I tend to die with my head on my arm and then I have to beg them in my head to pick up their lines because my damn arm is falling asleep.
Lenten entries missed:
Suburban Joe paid $16.49 to the IRS, really totally sucked at math, and plumbed the basement.
Today's
horoscope:
Appropriate tools make playing more fun. Get the best mitt, golf club, pencil, racquet, goggles, etc. for maximum enjoyment.
One year ago today:
"An entire meal out of dead cat! Dead cat with vodka, dead cat spread, dead cat dessert! Yummy yummy dead cat!!"
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Last Updated Sat 1 June 22:29:09 2002