You Can't Stop The Beat !
Thursday evening I received a call from my dear friend Alex LeFevre (he doesn't have a an LJ blog, just one on MySpace). We went to HS together, and we both did theatre as well. Currently, he is touring the country with Hairspray as the Assistant Conductor.
Since the tour was mainly going through the South, the Mid West and the North West, I didn't think I'd get to see the show. So when he called me Thursday and asked me what I was doing Saturday, I was naturally confused. It seems that this Mo forgot to tell me that the show was also doing Providence. And since they were doing Providence, so close to Boston, the music director let him conduct the show. So, he called his parents and closest friends in Boston to get them down there.
I was expecting to have to buy a ticket, and wasn't sure if there was enough time, he'd barely given me 48 hour notice. He said it was taken care of, that I should just come down. Which confused me, because in Truth or Dare, even Madonna had trouble getting her father a seat.
So I get there, saw his parents, said goodbye (they came to the Matinee) and we went into the Theatre via the backstage. Wow! Where was my seat? Right Next To The Conductor!! In other words, even closer than front row center. I was astounded!
This experience definitely rates in the top ten experiences in my life. I was in sensory overload. There I was, sitting in the pit with the band, the show 6 to 8 feet in front of me, and I could barely hear the audience giving me an illusion that they were doing the show just for me.
But honestly, the best part of it was watching Alex conduct the band. All those little sounds, the temp and the music, he was in control of it all. Absolutely amazing! With a nod of his head certain people knew when to play, his left hand keeping time while his right hand played the piano, a microphone in front of him so he can give the band instructions and count down with the tempo to the start of a particular song, and the craziest in this day and age was the video camera positioned on him so that the percussionist and the stage manager (all back stage) could see what he was doing and receive his directions.
Sitting there made me realize how much we've both grown and changed/developed into non-teenagers, even though we still feel really young (yes we were actually discussing this later on). To think, from Newton North graduates to some form of Adulthood, we just never really think about it. (Actually, one of the cast members was a Freshmen at NNHS when we graduated, and she did recognize me. Such a small small world)
Ok, back to the show. I had seen the show for the 1st time a couple months back at the North Shore Music Theatre. It was good there. The stage there is in the middle of the theatre, so the 3rd wall comes down because the cast is dancing in the audience. Likewise, the round stage causes you to miss some thing because you can't always see the actors head on. Regardless, they did a good job, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I found this production I saw in Providence to be more professional. Energy level was higher (which I might have helped because I had this HUGE grin on my face the entire show, and yes, my face hurt afterwards). The whole show didn't seem to drag and ran smoother as well as being on a traditional stage, which led to some beautiful views of the cast in front of an amazing array of colorful and funky sets. And of course, whenever an actor had to be front and center, I was really really really close, so that just enhanced the experience ten fold.
The band was really nice, and they said that they loved watching my facial expressions, because they've been doing the show for over 4 months and they've must have seen this production over a 100 times. I loved sitting with them. On my right, I had all the wind instruments, and on the left were all the plugged in instruments. Since the speakers for the audience were behind me, I couldn't hear the plugged music, so Alex gave me head phones to hear what they were playing. And watching Alex was a blast, he was really enjoying himself, and they crowd loved him (there's a bit in all Hairspray productions where the conductor interacts with the audience).
So, that was my weekend. And I'm still smiling thinking about the show. I had a great Cinco de Mayo. What did you do?