(no subject)
My Sunday night off didn’t go exactly as planned, but in a good and very memorable way.
Brenda’s flight to NYC kept getting delayed because of storms in Pennsylvania. I was fine with this, I was already enjoying being at the hotel by myself and taking advantage of the air conditioning and television (Comedy Central was showing the South Park Imagination land episodes, excellent!). She finally lands sometime around 1:00AM, and the car rental place is closed by then. Via text messages, she tells me this and that she’s looking for other rental places open this late. There are, but they’re too expensive, so I offered to drive to the city to pick her up. At this point, I’m thinking to myself: It’s 2:30AM, I need to drive to an airport I’ve never been to in a city I’ve never been to with a car that has a broken window, and I have a CD with a sticker on it that says Scottish Pirate Metal on it…let the adventure begin. I surprisingly made it to LaGuardia with no problems, though I did make a wrong turn once or twice coming back. And now I can say I’ve been to NYC, if only for a short while (and it was 4AM by the time I got there, so I couldn’t tell you what parts I actually drove through). We made it back to the hotel by 5:30, the car ride back marking the second we’ve seen the sun come up together.
Second week of Showboat has been sailing along without any problems. Parking has for the most part been decent with the exception of a few nights where the patrons were grouchier than usual (and always on days when the weather is good, I don’t understand the people that come here). Wed matinee was crazy because it was a sold out show, and I had to worry about parking a full parking lot full of people as well as three tour buses that were bringing people. To top of off someone slipped and broke their ankle before the show, so we had an ambulance in the parking lot that we had to direct traffic around. On the plus side, the ambulance had their own people go into the street and help ease traffic flow into the parking lot. And to make matters even more interesting, five minutes after I started parking it torrential down poured and didn’t ease up for the rest of the day.
Parents came up to see the second Saturday performance of Showboat. They loved it, and they enjoyed being back on the compound and seeing all the people from last year, as well as meeting all new people. They loved the show and loved the cabaret just as much. It was good having them here for a night. They’ll be back in two weeks for Rent, and then two weeks later I’ll be home. Hooray!
Change over into Rent was pretty smooth, by far one of the smoothest change overs I’ve done here. The set is probably the best set of the season by far. It looks so amazing and I’m incredibly proud of it.
As for the show itself: let me start by saying that I have never been a fan of Rent and I was hoping, praying that working on this show would change my views. Sadly that is not the case, and I probably dislike even more at this point. I totally understand why other people love this show; it’s just not for me. It probably doesn’t help that the cast is split down the middle (half of them being amazing, the other half being far from amazing for various reasons). Some parts of the show are executed well, but other scenes tend to fall short for one reason or another, and it’s very noticeable to the audience. There have been a few performances where each mead actor has dropped or flubbed several lines through out the show, and when that becomes consistent through out a performance it makes the show look pretty shitty. Richard, the director, has politely chewed them apart for this, and I think they’re beginning the get the hint and trying to make the show tighter. Let’s hope they can have at least one good show soon.
The tech staff likes to play a fun game during intermission where we count how many old people leave at intermission. So far, ten cars is the record to break.
If Rent isn’t up to par, the after show cabaret certainly is! It’s Las Vegas themed, and everyone in the cabaret is a person known for playing in Vegas (Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, Prince, etc. They perform the show in costume and stay in character even when they’re waiting tables. It’s a hysterical performance every night (especially when John walks on stage as Cher). I’m glad I’m doing deserts this week because I get to watch the show every night and when a crowd loves a cabaret that means big tips (ka-ching!).
At this point I am very much ready to be home, because I’m starting to get a little run down at this point. Having only two weeks to put together shows like Showboat or Rent isn’t easy, and if anything, it’s starting to make me feel rushed. And I feel like so much more can be done if there was more time. None of us are looking forward to Hairspray because there’s so much scenery in that show half of us have to work in the shop during Rent performances just to get the sets done in time (too bad we don’t get paid overtime here). We also have only 7 days to build Hairspray, terrific. It’s also around this part of the season where having only one washer and dryer amongst ten people who live in the Playhouse plus the costume shop plus ResCo starts to drive me crazy. I find myself holding off on doing laundry until the last possible second (“Hmm, I only wore these pants for four hours, I can wear them again tomorrow…”). I miss being able to laundry on a regular basis.
I’ve been pretty sick for almost a week now, but finally I'm feeling better now. Speaking of now, I opted to come home on this day off to get some well needed rest, in hopes to get more healthier and to get some much needed sleep. I plan on just having a very quiet night at home, nothing special, no big shabang this time. Just relaxation to get me through the next weeks (one of Rent, two of Hairspray).
I finally finished The Dark Tower book series. I thought it was awesome, and I might even read them again when I get the time. I even thought then ending was clever and made sense. I was never the hugest fan of King’s work, but now I want to start reading more of his book to see how they tie in with the Dark Tower. I’ve already started this process and have picked up his short stories book, Everything’s Eventual.
CULLY: Before we do anything, let me go talk to Richard and see if I can talk him out of doing Rent.
MEGHAN: No complaining.
ROSS: When have we ever complained?...Correction, when have me and Al ever complained?
DAN: Hey!
RICHARD: Good evening, welcome to the Forestburgh Playhouse. For those who don’t know me, I am Angela Lansbury.
ROSS: The best kind of sex is when she’s dead in the end.
MEGHAN: …You’re fired.
CULLY: This turkey tastes funny.
O’CONNOR: That’s because it’s pork.
LARRY: I was talking about you earlier: “That Al: he’s the nicest guy and very quiet, but every now and then he throws out a couple zingers that come out of nowhere!”
KAY: Street signs are really big.
BRENDA: I'm trying to figure out the best way to make a shotgun shoulder harness.
ME: That sounds like the coolest conundrum ever.
Brenda’s flight to NYC kept getting delayed because of storms in Pennsylvania. I was fine with this, I was already enjoying being at the hotel by myself and taking advantage of the air conditioning and television (Comedy Central was showing the South Park Imagination land episodes, excellent!). She finally lands sometime around 1:00AM, and the car rental place is closed by then. Via text messages, she tells me this and that she’s looking for other rental places open this late. There are, but they’re too expensive, so I offered to drive to the city to pick her up. At this point, I’m thinking to myself: It’s 2:30AM, I need to drive to an airport I’ve never been to in a city I’ve never been to with a car that has a broken window, and I have a CD with a sticker on it that says Scottish Pirate Metal on it…let the adventure begin. I surprisingly made it to LaGuardia with no problems, though I did make a wrong turn once or twice coming back. And now I can say I’ve been to NYC, if only for a short while (and it was 4AM by the time I got there, so I couldn’t tell you what parts I actually drove through). We made it back to the hotel by 5:30, the car ride back marking the second we’ve seen the sun come up together.
Second week of Showboat has been sailing along without any problems. Parking has for the most part been decent with the exception of a few nights where the patrons were grouchier than usual (and always on days when the weather is good, I don’t understand the people that come here). Wed matinee was crazy because it was a sold out show, and I had to worry about parking a full parking lot full of people as well as three tour buses that were bringing people. To top of off someone slipped and broke their ankle before the show, so we had an ambulance in the parking lot that we had to direct traffic around. On the plus side, the ambulance had their own people go into the street and help ease traffic flow into the parking lot. And to make matters even more interesting, five minutes after I started parking it torrential down poured and didn’t ease up for the rest of the day.
Parents came up to see the second Saturday performance of Showboat. They loved it, and they enjoyed being back on the compound and seeing all the people from last year, as well as meeting all new people. They loved the show and loved the cabaret just as much. It was good having them here for a night. They’ll be back in two weeks for Rent, and then two weeks later I’ll be home. Hooray!
Change over into Rent was pretty smooth, by far one of the smoothest change overs I’ve done here. The set is probably the best set of the season by far. It looks so amazing and I’m incredibly proud of it.
As for the show itself: let me start by saying that I have never been a fan of Rent and I was hoping, praying that working on this show would change my views. Sadly that is not the case, and I probably dislike even more at this point. I totally understand why other people love this show; it’s just not for me. It probably doesn’t help that the cast is split down the middle (half of them being amazing, the other half being far from amazing for various reasons). Some parts of the show are executed well, but other scenes tend to fall short for one reason or another, and it’s very noticeable to the audience. There have been a few performances where each mead actor has dropped or flubbed several lines through out the show, and when that becomes consistent through out a performance it makes the show look pretty shitty. Richard, the director, has politely chewed them apart for this, and I think they’re beginning the get the hint and trying to make the show tighter. Let’s hope they can have at least one good show soon.
The tech staff likes to play a fun game during intermission where we count how many old people leave at intermission. So far, ten cars is the record to break.
If Rent isn’t up to par, the after show cabaret certainly is! It’s Las Vegas themed, and everyone in the cabaret is a person known for playing in Vegas (Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, Prince, etc. They perform the show in costume and stay in character even when they’re waiting tables. It’s a hysterical performance every night (especially when John walks on stage as Cher). I’m glad I’m doing deserts this week because I get to watch the show every night and when a crowd loves a cabaret that means big tips (ka-ching!).
At this point I am very much ready to be home, because I’m starting to get a little run down at this point. Having only two weeks to put together shows like Showboat or Rent isn’t easy, and if anything, it’s starting to make me feel rushed. And I feel like so much more can be done if there was more time. None of us are looking forward to Hairspray because there’s so much scenery in that show half of us have to work in the shop during Rent performances just to get the sets done in time (too bad we don’t get paid overtime here). We also have only 7 days to build Hairspray, terrific. It’s also around this part of the season where having only one washer and dryer amongst ten people who live in the Playhouse plus the costume shop plus ResCo starts to drive me crazy. I find myself holding off on doing laundry until the last possible second (“Hmm, I only wore these pants for four hours, I can wear them again tomorrow…”). I miss being able to laundry on a regular basis.
I’ve been pretty sick for almost a week now, but finally I'm feeling better now. Speaking of now, I opted to come home on this day off to get some well needed rest, in hopes to get more healthier and to get some much needed sleep. I plan on just having a very quiet night at home, nothing special, no big shabang this time. Just relaxation to get me through the next weeks (one of Rent, two of Hairspray).
I finally finished The Dark Tower book series. I thought it was awesome, and I might even read them again when I get the time. I even thought then ending was clever and made sense. I was never the hugest fan of King’s work, but now I want to start reading more of his book to see how they tie in with the Dark Tower. I’ve already started this process and have picked up his short stories book, Everything’s Eventual.
CULLY: Before we do anything, let me go talk to Richard and see if I can talk him out of doing Rent.
MEGHAN: No complaining.
ROSS: When have we ever complained?...Correction, when have me and Al ever complained?
DAN: Hey!
RICHARD: Good evening, welcome to the Forestburgh Playhouse. For those who don’t know me, I am Angela Lansbury.
ROSS: The best kind of sex is when she’s dead in the end.
MEGHAN: …You’re fired.
CULLY: This turkey tastes funny.
O’CONNOR: That’s because it’s pork.
LARRY: I was talking about you earlier: “That Al: he’s the nicest guy and very quiet, but every now and then he throws out a couple zingers that come out of nowhere!”
KAY: Street signs are really big.
BRENDA: I'm trying to figure out the best way to make a shotgun shoulder harness.
ME: That sounds like the coolest conundrum ever.