Well, dear readers, I shall try to get these here notes posted in a hurry, because we’ve got a very early call and a very long day ahead of us, and then it’s opening night for The Brain From Planet X, NYMF-style. What a fascinating journey this has been – fascinating in good ways, in bad ways, and in ugly ways. But, tonight we open and then play our six performances, and all we can do is pray that audiences will come and that they’ll take to and like the show. We’ve done the best we can do within the sometimes very difficult constraints of this festival (and believe me – they’re difficult for all shows save for one), and I’m proud as can be of our wonderful company of players, who’ve given their all to this show. Speaking of this show, yesterday was a mostly-fine day. For example, I got up. That was mostly fine. My extreme nausea of the night before had mostly abated and I was just a little queasy. I’m proud to say that I didn’t vomit on the ground or anywhere else, although there was a thirty-minute period when I was certain I was going to. But, I posted the notes, and just got into bed and once there, I actually willed myself to be over the nausea and whilst doing so I fell right asleep. I toddled off to rehearsal, and we did a full (almost) dress run-through, which, with one exception, went very well. The one exception is when we had to stop because a martini glass fell and broke – no one was hurt, but we had to sweep up the glass. Tomorrow we’ll have a plastic version. Our replacement costume designer had done some good work on the Brain head, and she got everything organized and then, after rehearsal, took all the stuff that needed fixing with her so she could do the alterations at home. She also was going to purchase everything else that was needed. Not the best way to do things, but the original costume designer was a complete flake and just left us in terrible shape. In any case, the new gal is doing yeoman work and the cast has been wonderful about the problems. After lunch, I gave notes, then ran a couple of things that were sloppy, then let everyone go two hours early. Then, everything from the rehearsal hall was carted to the theater and to our teeny-tiny storage space where, shockingly, everything actually fit. By that time, I was no longer queasy and actually had an appetite, so I ate a nice dinner and now feel all better.
I sent out several e-blasts to my various and sundried lists. If we were in one of the smaller spaces we’d actually be sold out for three of our six shows and close to a sell out on one other. But, we’re in the biggest venue, 199 seats, so while sales are good, we still have seats to fill – so, if any of you New Yorkers are still debating when to see it, we’d love to see you tonight and/or tomorrow night.
At the end of the day, we had yet another bit of NYMF drama concerning our wireless hand-held mic, which no one seems to be able to find, but I’m assured there will be one at the theater by eleven. I gotta tell you.
Mr. David Wechter will be here tomorrow and will be sitting in on our afternoon dress rehearsal and then seeing opening night, so that will be fun. Also, Miss Adriana Patti will be arriving to help out and then attend our first two shows.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because I must abed soon to get as much beauty sleep as possible.
Today will, I’m sure, be filled with stress and tension, but I’ll try to keep the atmosphere light and just get the job done. It is, of course, sheer madness to have to tech a new show in eight hours and then play your first performance. Yes, we got to write some light cues last Sunday, but there’s a whole show to mic and get balanced, sound cues to make work, many projections to project (we have yet to even see the projector work because the company we rented from so screwed up), but we have a wonderful tech director, our lighting guy and programmer are really good and really fast, and our sound gal seems on top of everything. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to do any prep work last Sunday as NYMF “forgot” to tell the sound tech to be there. I hear our board op is good, so that will help if he’s on top of things. Of course, he’s never seen the show and will totally be flying by the seat of his pants with a carefully numbered script.
We’ll be there doing all this work from eight to one. Then the cast arrives and we begin a cue to cue for ninety minutes, at which point the cast gets into costume and we do a complete run-through, hopefully without stops, no matter what happens. We’ll have approximately two hours after the run-through to fix any problems and then, ninety minutes later, it’s show time. It is madness, but with all your excellent vibes and xylophones coming our way, maybe we’ll squeak through without any problems. So, send ’em our way all the livelong day and night.
Once again, I’d just like to say that working with this company has been dreamy and they’re doing a great job. And my collaboration with my choreographer, Adam Cates, and my musical director, Larry Goldberg, has been fantastic. Our hard-working stage manager Rachel has gone beyond the call of duty, as has her assistant Matt. Our lighting, sound, and set people have all delivered. In fact, my only brickbats for the entire cast, crew and creative staff are reserved for the creepy costume designer who left us in the lurch in a completely unacceptable and unprofessional way – to her we blow a big raspberry. I must also say that our General Manager, Martian Entertainment (I kid you not) has fielded a lot of the crap thrown our (and other shows’) way, and I could never have gotten through this without them.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, go to the theater, try not to be too stressed-out, try to keep it light, keep it gay, and hope we get through the day and evening unscathed. Today’s topic of discussion: Why, your favorite 50s sci-fi movies, of course – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and I will, of course, have a full report for you upon my return from The Brain From Planet X.