Whatever temperature I may have said the theater was last night; add twenty degrees and you have today's matinee temperature. Still it was a wonderful show and a great crowd.
Who knew that many older folks read the Seattle Gay News?Still it was a strange day at the theater, that
DR Jrand could probably explain. The stage manager opened the theater to air it out at about 11:30. A little while later she found a group of kids in the middle of the stage. After chasing them out of the building, she discovered there had been a theft. The only things missing were a pair of handcuffs and the billyclub, both used by the cop in the show.
Now, who wants to even contemplate what a group of thirteen years olds boys plan to do with handcuffs and a billyclub? The pre-show speech, that is on tape, was played; but no sound came out. Quickly the theater manager got up and gave the old
turn off your damn phone speech. During the speech and the overture several technical malfunctions occured, including the discovery (as the house was going to black) that all of the set pieces had been turned to the Havana scene, rather than the Times Square scene.
The rest of the show (except for the heat) went very well, until we got to my song, which comes early in the second act. I gave my cue, and then instead of the electric piano playing my intro, I had only the drums and the flute. I saw the musical conductor scrambling around the keyboard, so I knew something was up. So, I sang the whole song to the flute and drums; which was followed by the gamblers' ballet done to drums, flute, and sax (I believe). Just as Sky Masterson was about to launch into LUCK BE A LADY the voice of God (or in this case, the stage manager) boomed out, "
Ladies and Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties, we are forced to take a momentary pause in the show." At this point, every techie, electrical engineer, and curious bystander descended on the orchestra pit, while all of the gamblers stood nervously on stage.
After a few mintues, our Nathan Detroit, who is a pretty funny guy to begin with, climbed down off the stage, sat down between two ladies in the front row, and proceeded to entertain the crowd with several funny and (thankfully) clean jokes. After about five minutes, the cast received the thumbs up, and the show continued.
And other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?