Well, dear readers, we are open. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, we, meaning 70, Girls, 70, are open. Two days ago, I was told the house was probably going to be VERY light for opening night. I went to check Goldstar to see if those seats had sold and none had. Imagine all of our surprises to find we had an almost sold-out house – only about five or six empty seats. That’s the biggest opening night audience they’ve had in ages. They were a wonderful audience, too. The show ran semi-smoothly – running time was the same as the night before, many laughs throughout, but a couple of performance things that I’ll go in tonight and fix. Also, several tech problems – mostly sound issues – I think we have a few bum mics that have to be replaced – several were completely out and there was a lot of static on a couple of others. Sound guy, who’s super nice, promised he’d get it all taken care of for tonight’s show. Our original leading lady was in the audience, and she absolutely loved the entire production. She seems to be completely recovered now from her illness, so that’s good. I only knew a handful of folks there tonight. I had several goals with this show and one of them was to get a big laugh on the very first line in the show. So, I wrote a line that was actually based on something I’d said at the first rehearsal that made everyone laugh. And boy, did I achieve that goal – a huge laugh tonight, and that’s the way the show gets rolling. I know of very few shows that get a huge laugh in the first ten seconds. And that laugh is followed by three others and then we’re into the opening number, which is a real crowd pleaser, and which was a lot of fun for me to stage. And I continue to be very proud of Boom Ditty Boom, which opens act two. In all versions of the show, there is not a single stage direction that tells you what’s actually supposed to be happening – nothing. Nothing online, nothing in any review I’ve read. I didn’t even want to think about it because on top of that, it runs four minutes or so. I figured out what would be happening but didn’t know what to do with it or how to even approach it. And then, at one of the rehearsals, I just dove into it. I decided on the spot that I wanted it to feel like it would be at home in a Blake Edwards movie. That was my motivating force in staging it. And I knew it had to involve the “gang” stealing furs. I created a kind of walk for it and from then to the end it became about patterns and fur-stealing. As I did it, no one could keep a straight face and it just blossomed forth over a three-hour period, start to finish. It is rare for staging to get laughs, but I’m happy to report that this one got some good belly laughs. Anyway, everyone seemed to enjoy the show despite the small problems. So, here, for your mental delectation, are some photographs of the show.
Aren’t those fun photographs of the show? I’ll share some others that were posed and not for a performance, because those are good, too. After the show, there was a little party in the patio in the back of the theater – good food, drinks, some sweets. I didn’t have much, and I was exhausted to boot, so I took my leave at eleven and came home, because I had to get a bill paid before midnight. I knew it could be a problem and I certainly didn’t want to incur any late fees, but there was something weird with the website and it wouldn’t log me in in the usual way and then it wouldn’t take the payment in the usual way. I’ll call tomorrow and tell them of the trouble and hopefully they’ll waive the late fees. This happened once before, and they did waive them.
Earlier, I’d gotten seven hours of sleep, got a nice message from Kay Cole wishing us well for the show. I just didn’t want to do anything at all but pray for several smaller modern major miracles needed instantly. None arrived. I am getting a couple of new releases ready, but those won’t happen until early December. I had three chicken tenders from Popeye’s, one biscuit, and small sides of mac and cheese and coleslaw. I guess I hit some plateau because I got six free sweet and spicy wings for free. I took one whiff of them and tossed them out. Really vile smelling, I thought. The tenders were good and so were the sides. Then I just took it easy, then shaved and showered and then moseyed on over to the theater at six-fifteen. I’d already written all my opening night cards earlier. I handed those out, wished everyone a great opening filled with JEF, and at 8:05 we began and the rest you sort of know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll try to see what was what with the website that was clearly glitching, I’ll eat something at some point, but I need a few days to recover from the stress of the past two weeks, which, as you know, has been rather intense. Then I’ll see our evening performance. I have no idea what size audience we’ll have.
Tomorrow is matinee day, and it’s sold out with a talkback afterwards, which I’m looking forward to. Then there is a lot of stuff to deal with during the week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, check the glitchy website, eat, then see our evening performance. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite kinds of crackers to munch on – potato chips, too? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that we had a lovely and lively full house for our opening.