In the first show last night, as I mentioned in the notes, many in the audience were of an age and clearly did not have a clew as to what we were about, although in the end I think they had a good time. But there was some kind of negative energy coming from somewhere in the room - everyone in the cast felt it, and that's why a couple of them went up on lyrics. That kind of thing is palpable. I felt it the instant I said my first line.
At one point I got irritated by it, but it resulted in the biggest laugh of that show - and it was completely spontaneous. After Sarah Uriarte Berry sang her song from Light in the Piazza, a completely tuneless thing that makes no musical sense to me on any level with no melody anywhere. She got a nice hand and then I got up and said, "That song would be great for Name That Tune. I can name that tune in 903 notes." Suddenly that quiet crowd was laughing big. I used the same joke in the second show, where it also got a nice laugh. I was very loose in the second show and that audience was loud and wonderful.