Good Evening!
What A Wonderful Opening Night!
-It just seemed that everything was in place, and everything went right. Heck, I was even a little
verklempt when the lights went down after the Act II Finale - and I will freely admit to being a bit "jaded" when it comes to "special evenings in the theatre". But tonight was really special. And fun.
When I walked into the pit tonight, my keyboard was covered with cards, chocolates, candies and various gifts from the cast, crew, etc. My conductor gave me a great 1950's style cake pedestal. Perfect gift! And one of the men in the ensemble managed to track down a bunch of original Washington Senators' Baseball Cards, and gave one to each person in the company - I got Andre Marrerro.
But beyond the gifts, it was a great evening to be with friends, and to share with friends. My friend, Justin - with whom I just recently reconnected - came in for the show tonight with his partner, Kevin. -And it turned out that Justin knew a few people in the cast from his Florida State days. There were also lots of other friends in the audience - lots of hugs at the post-show reception, lots of mini-reunions. And, of course, the whole cast and crew of this show are also friends - well, more like family now.
Tomorrow, we're having "Gay Day".

A bunch of the cast and crew is getting together to catch the 3:00 showing of "
Bareback Brokeback Mountain".

Hopefully, we'll all have enough time after the movie to recover emotionally before the evening show.
Thanks again for all the Vibes and Well Wishes. It was nice knowing that the HHW Family was there in spirit tonight too.