War Horse Opening Night
It's been a very, very long day, but unlike the past few, much of it was consumed with work. Although I didn't have to run the box office for opening night, I can already tell this will not be a pleasant or easy couple of weeks. It's going to be a ton of ridiculous, unnecessary work and it's going to be the same nonsense every day. There will be no rewards, which makes today necessary to hang onto.
I went in to work early this morning for a special War Horse event. Joey, the horse puppet in the show, was being shown off as a media promotion. Breakfast was provided (a plus) and actors and puppeteers were present to talk about how Joey works and to answer questions. The first thing I noticed was how massive he was. There are three puppeteers who work in tandem to bring him to life: the head, the heart, and the hind. They do an exceptional job and despite seeing all three people, there's no doubt in your mind that a living, breathing horse is standing in the theater lobby. It's an uncanny feeling and it seems like he could do something bestial at any second. After seeing the movie and reading the book, I wouldn't say I was especially excited about seeing the play. I think it was more that I was prepared, but after seeing Joey for that brief introduction, I was very eager for the show tonight.
I hardly had a break the whole day once I got up to my desk. There were hundreds of tickets to process, a bunch of reports that weren't matching, and a meeting with the company management in the afternoon. The assistant company manager is especially cute. Again, I don't think that's going to be enough to make this run a pleasant one.
After work I went up to Six Arms with Tonjia where we met Josh and Aiden. We had some drinks and snacks before going back to the Paramount for the show. Janet met me there and, no surprise, I was the one waiting.
The show made full use of technical theater tricks not only with the puppets but also with the lighting design, the video projection, the music, and the special effects. It was a memorable experience particularly because it was so unexpected. May favorite part was the goose puppet on wheels, but mostly because it doesn't feel right to say the carrion eating crows or vultures were my favorite. If this show comes to your town, you should definitely make every effort to go see it. Giant horse puppets!
After the show Janet declined an invitation to attend the opening night after party, which was unfortunate because we spent half an hour standing outside on the street next to her bike, talking about the show and other things. That whole time we could have been eating free hors d'oeuvres and drinking free wine. On the upside it was her suggestion that we hang out next week sometime.
I eventually made it to the party and found Josh and Tonjia. Kathleen joined us later at a table and although we weren't the last ones to leave, the party certainly wasn't going to last a lot longer. Courtesy of Brandon, I got a voucher to take a taxi home after having a ride fall through. I might have managed to catch the last bus home, but a taxi was much faster and nicer, especially a taxi that I didn't pay for.
Tomorrow is my first night to run War Horse and I'm expecting to be busy all day long prepping. This is right back to awful Broadway after an effortless run of The Book of Mormon and a fairly easy, though long run of Wicked. The good times can't last forever. Sigh.
I went in to work early this morning for a special War Horse event. Joey, the horse puppet in the show, was being shown off as a media promotion. Breakfast was provided (a plus) and actors and puppeteers were present to talk about how Joey works and to answer questions. The first thing I noticed was how massive he was. There are three puppeteers who work in tandem to bring him to life: the head, the heart, and the hind. They do an exceptional job and despite seeing all three people, there's no doubt in your mind that a living, breathing horse is standing in the theater lobby. It's an uncanny feeling and it seems like he could do something bestial at any second. After seeing the movie and reading the book, I wouldn't say I was especially excited about seeing the play. I think it was more that I was prepared, but after seeing Joey for that brief introduction, I was very eager for the show tonight.
I hardly had a break the whole day once I got up to my desk. There were hundreds of tickets to process, a bunch of reports that weren't matching, and a meeting with the company management in the afternoon. The assistant company manager is especially cute. Again, I don't think that's going to be enough to make this run a pleasant one.
After work I went up to Six Arms with Tonjia where we met Josh and Aiden. We had some drinks and snacks before going back to the Paramount for the show. Janet met me there and, no surprise, I was the one waiting.
The show made full use of technical theater tricks not only with the puppets but also with the lighting design, the video projection, the music, and the special effects. It was a memorable experience particularly because it was so unexpected. May favorite part was the goose puppet on wheels, but mostly because it doesn't feel right to say the carrion eating crows or vultures were my favorite. If this show comes to your town, you should definitely make every effort to go see it. Giant horse puppets!
After the show Janet declined an invitation to attend the opening night after party, which was unfortunate because we spent half an hour standing outside on the street next to her bike, talking about the show and other things. That whole time we could have been eating free hors d'oeuvres and drinking free wine. On the upside it was her suggestion that we hang out next week sometime.
I eventually made it to the party and found Josh and Tonjia. Kathleen joined us later at a table and although we weren't the last ones to leave, the party certainly wasn't going to last a lot longer. Courtesy of Brandon, I got a voucher to take a taxi home after having a ride fall through. I might have managed to catch the last bus home, but a taxi was much faster and nicer, especially a taxi that I didn't pay for.
Tomorrow is my first night to run War Horse and I'm expecting to be busy all day long prepping. This is right back to awful Broadway after an effortless run of The Book of Mormon and a fairly easy, though long run of Wicked. The good times can't last forever. Sigh.