Thursday, March 18, 2010

It's the Final Countdown!!!

Well, my friends, as expected - last night’s rehearsal went swimmingly. I had ALL of my costumes and all of my costume changes went quite smoothly.
In addition to that, all the ‘stuff’ on stage went quite well also. Even though we only had the two keyboards, we stayed focused and really had a great run through. There were a few technical things that need fixing, but I’m guessing those will be sorted out in time for tonight’s run through.
There were a few odd lighting things happening, but to be honest, I’m not 100% sure if they’ll be fixed. Something tells me that’s the way they were designed. :-)

Anyway, I did have one ‘fun’ moment last night….that had me in hysterics.

The set is designed so that we can cross backstage from stage right to stage left whenever we want to, as long as the on-stage door (that’s part of the set) is closed. If it’s open and we try to cross, the entire audience will see us randomly walking across the back of the stage. Not cool.
I discovered a couple of nights ago, that the way things had been working out (with my costume changes and everything) that I have to get from stage right to stage left during one of the very few times that the door is open. Not a problem. I can easily go out the back door of the theatre on the stage right side, cross outside across the parking lot, and re-enter on the stage left side. It’s a very common occurrence at this particular theatre and even though I’m the ONLY person in the particular production that has to do it, I talked to one of the directors and it’s totally fine for me to do. ANYWAY.

The time comes last night for me to make the cross and I do it without an issue.
I arrived stage left and after about 5 seconds of standing there (watching what was happening on stage) I realized that I was dressed and ready to make my entrance – TWO SONGS TOO EARLY. Nice.
I was a bit freaked out when I realized that not only was I very early but I was wearing the wrong costume. However, I didn’t panic because I had plenty of time before I had to be on stage. Well, I noticed that the on-stage door was still open, so I had to head out the back door, into the parking lot and over to the stage right door. No problem at all. That is until I get to the stage right doors (outside) and realize there are no handles on the doors and they’re not propped open. Really.
I started banging on the doors like a complete lunatic and after about a minute or so, one of my fellow cast mates came to my rescue. Naturally, he was wondering why the HELL I was locked outside. I quickly explained what had happened as I was getting changed into the correct costume. Thankfully, all I had to do in order to ‘fix’ my costume issue was to throw on my overcoat, hat, and scarf and I was ready to go. Once I was dressed, I repeated the process…running across the parking lot, over to the stage left side door, re-entering through the UN-LOCKED door and was able to make my entrance. At the right time.
PHEW.
I can guarantee that I won’t do that again!!!!

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal with the full band and full tech. No stopping unless there’s a complete and utter collapse – or one of the actors is locked outside in the parking lot. :-)

3 comments:

MOJA said...

I bet it will happen again...since it isnt the FIRST time! :-) Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!! B-A-L!

-moja

AJohnP said...

HA!!
Ok - it's the first time it happened at Company. Of course, the Curtain Call story beats this one by a MILE!!

Cubby said...

You sure can tell a good story!