Well, dear readers, we had our first of two previews last night. We had about ten no-shows so there were only about thirty-five people there. Apparently, thanks to this disgusting heat wave wherein it’s still ninety-five degrees in the evening, people don’t want to leave their houses. The theater has really good air conditioning, though, so the people would have been comfy. In any case, it was a very interesting show. Sami came out at the top. There has not been a performance – whether the reading, the workshop, or the invited dress, where the very top hasn’t gotten a nice laugh. Not last night. Silence. Nothing. Perhaps they just didn’t get what we were doing, although I think it’s pretty obvious. But three lines later a projection comes up and that got a nice little laugh (it gets a huge guffaw usually). And then Sami did the opening number and it went well, and then she began the first monologue. They were very quiet and then Sami did what any first-rate professional stage actor would or at least should do: She took the damn bull by the horns and just “got” them and soon they were laughing pretty regularly. I was very proud of her for that. Her pacing was terrific and so was her energy for almost the entirety of the show. The interesting thing about the audience was that they were very quiet at times, but they were really enjoying it – not laughing as much as we’re used to, but you could just tell they were having a good time. And all the songs got really strong applause, and Annie got REALLY vocal approval. The tap number went well, and I’m hoping that all subsequent audiences will just “get” what we’re doing at the top and go with it – in other words, I hope last night was a one-off thing. We still have a little work to do on the final monologue – it’s a hard one because it requires real heart but still having energy. It’s been a bit of a struggle, that one, but I do believe we’ll have it by opening night. I only had a handful of notes, and I was originally going to e-mail them, but I think she does better when she actually hears me speak them and I can demonstrate things. There were lots of lovely compliments after the show, and the one thing that’s very clear is that everyone adores her. One mom who was there especially loved that Molly is such a great role model for young teens – says it like it is, goes her own way, is occasionally edgy, but is always about the right things.
Prior to that, I had a day that began very well and had a middle that was so irritating that I wanted to strangle a tomato. I got a little over eight hours of sleep, got up, did stuff, and then had to do a radio interview for Welcome to My World. It was me, Sami, and her friend Corey Fogelmanis (from Girl Meets World) and that all went very well. Then the day went to HELL. Sami’s mom asked if I would pick up the programs and I said yes. They were just four minutes from the theater. She sent me a snapshot of a map with the route, but it had no cross streets on it. Still, I followed the map and simply could not find it. Now, ordinarily I would have just called her and told her to figure it out and tell me how to get there. But noooo, I could not call her and I could not call anyone and I could not use GPS because – wait for it – AT&T shut my phone off. Yes, those geniuses had charged my credit card on autopay day and, of course, that was the card that had been compromised that I’d had to shut down. They sent me no e-mail about it, no mail about it, no nothing about it, so I thought it had gone through. But, as soon as I got the replacement card that was the first site I went to and updated the autopay information, so they did, in fact, have a working card on that account. But they didn’t use it. They just shut the phone off. Thus began ninety minutes of sheer horror, the likes of which I have not seen in years. I got billing on the phone, but the billing people I was talking to don’t do “combined” billing (I have cell phone and home phone combined into one bill), so they put me through to that department. Of course I got someone in the Philippines. She kept me on the phone for twenty-five minutes, saying I had a zero balance, never figuring it out, leaving me on hold for ten minutes at a time, and finally doing something that resulted in my listening to a sex site tell me how much it was going to cost me to have phone sex with someone. I’m not making this up, you know.
So, I had to call back and go through the whole damn thing again, and that took another twenty minutes until I finally got the right people on the phone. I was finally told the payment hadn’t gone through, no apologies for just shutting the phone off (when the bill wasn’t even that overdue) without even having the courtesy of some form of contact, so I paid the bill online and asked for a supervisor. She put me on hold and thirty minutes later I finally hung up since it was clear no supervisor was ever coming to the phone. I will, however, be calling back on Monday and giving them a piece of my mind.
By the time all that was done it was almost four o’clock and I hadn’t eaten a damn thing, so I went and had a chopped salad and a bagel for the third day in a row. Then I had to go to the theater for our show.
After, I stopped at Gelson’s and got a tiny bit of mac-and-cheese and a little lobster salad, came home and ate it all up.
Today, it is my plan to relax as much as possible. I’ll eat something very light, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do a little bit of work, and then I’ll mosey on over to the theater. We’ll run a couple of things and then we’ll have our second and final preview.
Tomorrow, I have to go to LACC around one-thirty. Cindy Williams is doing a dog and pony show for her book, with her friend Herbie Pilato doing the Q&A stuff. He’s done that for all her LA signings and I’ll just leave it at that. But I got an e-mail from the LACC Foundation asking if I’d introduce them, as they felt it was important to have a real LACC voice do that and give a little perspective on the department. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, but in the end I said I would. I won’t stay for the dog and pony show, I’ll just come back home, relax, and get ready for opening night. I’m still hoping we’ll have a full house, but right now it’s two-thirds – I’m going to lean on a few people to get off their lazy ASSES and support us. People. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live with ‘em. Sunday we have a matinee and I’m hoping we all go out for a well-deserved bite to eat after. Next week is all planning the next Kritzerland show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, hopefully pick up packages, relax, and attend our second preview. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – haven’t a clew. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a decent first preview.