Who's Steering This Ship?

Wow.  I'm not sure what else to say.  Wow...

We did our first full run of the show on Thursday.  We had an audience on Friday.  I think we goofed up the timing on almost every cue, except for the final blackout before going home...  Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but 'clusterf*ck' would be a good description.  There is so much going on technically, most of which happens simultaneously, that we'd execute one thing, and while trying to figure out what we messed up we'd miss executing the next thing.  All of us were under a lot of strain - we're not used to being this disorganized on opening night.  To add to the tension, the director would get on headset when something was wrong.  Do you really think we can't tell the curtain is caught on something?  Our wonderful SM caught the brunt of all this.  God love her, she didn't kill anyone,  she didn't alienate anyone, and we got thru the whole thing without stopping.

The audience - while noticing that some things were probably not correct, didn't really seem to mind.  They only see what you show them.  Tho they did giggle at every blackout where they heard wheels squeaking. 

By the time opening night's show was over, we were ready for champagne.  The cast is out in the lobby with the director, being introduced to the audience, and we're back in the prop room throwing one back.  We were laughing at what went horribly wrong, and for those of us who couldn't see what happened in certain places, the sound guy and I were able to give vivid detail.

We finally wander to the lobby, just as the director was wrapping up his speech.  While we got cheers from the cast, all we could do is laugh/cry.  They introduced our SM, and I jumped up and down.  They introduced me, and she jumped up and down.  It was very funny.

Next stop: The Mouse is in the House!