first, here are my new glasses:
ok…whew. i hope you weren’t at opening night of the show on friday night. halfway through the first act, in the middle of the bottle-throwing “Whoop ti ay,” here was a huge noise, like a bomb going off. this was the amplifier on top of the keyboard exploding, complete with sparks. after this happened, no playing at all could be heard from the orchestra.
the women don’t come in till the end of the first act, and we weren’t aware that the sound problem was quite this serious. later, brad barnes told me he had to sing the rest of the song a capella, as the rest of the people on stage kept looking at him, nobody knowing what to do.
the guys sang a rousing “there’s a coach comin’ in,” which directly preceded our entrance, and they sounded great, and we thought things were ok.
but no, they sounded great because they’d sung the song a million times together and they could do it with no music to guide them.
dancing without music is another matter entirely.
we sauntered down the hill and onto the stage, not aware of what was to befall us. we could sort of hear a little music coming from the orchestra – a little drum, a small amount of brass instruments of some sort? so we plunged into the dance, and quickly realized we COULD NOT HEAR ANYTHING.
the guys normally whoop and holler during the song, but they kept quiet, so that we could try to hear the tiny bit of music that wafted our way every once in a while.
it didn’t help.
there we were, up on the stage, trying to do this dance and having absolutely no clue about where we might be in the song.
i have never had a stage experience like this in my entire life. i’ve been trying to think of horrible dancing moments, but i think they mostly just involved forgetting steps or briefly losing the beat. never, never, have i tried to do an ensemble dance with no music to guide us.
somehow, and i have no idea why, we managed to end the dance together, and then hurried off the stage, relieved and shell-shocked.
shortly after this, the rain started and they called the show.
i feel bad for the people who were there that night. they did see more than half of the show, so they didn’t get their money back nor did they get a rain check. but they didn’t get to HEAR even half of the performance. and not hearing a musical would be an unsatisfying experience.
here’s me in my traveling dress:
and here are ashlie, heather and deb in their traveling dresses:
it was quite a letdown, opening night.
so last night really felt like opening night, and it went really well. i didn’t stay long at friday’s cast party, but last night i stayed at gil’s house for a while and didn’t get to bed till two, which is very late for me. i’m about to nap, as a matter of fact, because i’ve been staggering around all day, trying to keep my eyes open.
here’s one more photo – it’s kayla and don, who play a mormon couple. kayla had the party friday night. they’re much more fun than they look like here.
soon, more photos. well, we’ll see when i manage to get them up here. i’m going camping tomorrow, a vacation from dancing the can-can (although i’m sure i’ll have to practice the dance while camping, so i don’t forget it by thursday).
you have tonight, and next thursday through sunday to see the show, so i hope you make it.
whoop ti ay,
grace