West Side Story - Weekend 2

The days have again blended together.  Friday Noam ran thru the cues - he knew of the changes that happened earlier in the week - everything looked ok.  One of the ASM's was asking about the little christmas lights that they threw up for light off stage.  The city needed them taken down after our last show last week, and they hadn't been put back up.  Where are they?  Who put them up there initially?  Someone said Big Robert put them up.  Where is he?  I'm listening to this thinking - wouldn't we have figured this out yesterday if we'd done a brush up?  Gee, the brush up seems pretty helpful for keeping things cool for a Friday performance.  But what do I know...

I dropped my stuff at the spotlight and headed to the lobby.  I was chatting with a few people when I realized we hadn't opened the house at 730p.  Apparently the sound system wasn't working.  They traced it back to a bad cable, replaced it, but never had enough time to do a true sound check.  Hmmm... Would this have been this much of a problem if we'd had a brush up? 

Later the Choreo said something to me that really hit home.  I feel stupid that it hit me as hard as it did, as it's something I say quite frequently in other situations.  "It's not worth getting worked up about it."  He's so right.  It's not.  Yes, I am very passionate about what I do.  I find reasons every day to be irritated with something that's going on with the production.  It's not worth getting myself all stressed out.

We start running the show Friday, and things don't look right.  Where the cues looked ok as we went thru them with no cast, something just didn't look right.  The tell tale sign was one particular scene where we have a blue special down center.  The light was on, but no color.  :-/  A couple other things looked weird, but the rest of the show was fine.  We were trying to decide if maybe we loaded the incorrect copy of the show, or if something got changed.  It didn't seem like it, but with the new moving lights we have, things get weird with them on a regular basis.

On my way out of the booth at intermission, the SM calls my name and asks a couple questions about the issues with the cues.  I gave her the best answers we had, while trying not to sound too surprised that she acknowledged my existence.

I don't think I stayed for the second act, but I don't remember clearly.

Saturday I went into the theater with a new resolve.  I wasn't going to let the SM get to me.  If there were issues with other aspects of the show - as long as it's not me - I'm going to try not to get worked up.  I went thru the first few cues to see if we were going to have repeat issues.  It didn't apper we would.  I made a few adjustments to some scenes to make them a little more even, and we were good to go.

We had a full house Saturday.  It was crazy.  I spent most of the time before the show helping people find their seats.  I could see the staff on the bridge looking over the edge - I just kept seating people.  Once the lines were gone, I headed upstairs. 

Saturday's show was the best we've had so far.  The audience was awake and alive, and the cast was really feeding off their reactions.  We still had some cue calling issues, but all in all it was wonderful.  I stuck around for the second act, tho I sat out in the lobby and chatted with Robert and the house manager.

After the show I was chatting with some people I knew.  They really enjoyed themselves.  Yipee!  At one point I see Allison - SHINY!  She had a top on that had sequins everywhere.  I head over to her - unfortunately I felt like I was rudely interrupting but I had to tell her I admired her blouse.  She introduced me to those people I didn't already know.  While chatting she asked me if Mr. Allison has trouble finding his light.  I said no.  She got this look on her face... it was either a damn-him or couldn't-you-have-just-lied-to-me look.  We laughed and I said it's not a big deal.  That's why we spike your spot on the stage.  You never miss your light when it's spiked.

However that is not the thought that nearly came out of my mouth.  Thank god for working internal filters.  The first thought I had was, 'Maybe Mr. Allison can find his light, but who cares?  You have two things going for you - you're beautiful and you have boobs.  Who cares if you can't hit your light perfectly if you have boobs.'  I am glad I did not say this out loud in front of her family.  I didn't see here without mixed company for the rest of the weekend, so I never shared that silly thought with her.

I went home and crashed.  We have a matinee the next day and I wanted to get some good rest.  Mr. Blondie and I had been to Ikea earlier in the day.  We picked up a new wall unit and he put it together while I was at the show.  It looks great!  I thank Hubby as I pass out....