Don't Feed the Plants

Ooops. Sorry ya'll. It's been a few days. But the 9 show week was exhausting (and I would like to say it was sort of a 10 show week because we also had that understudy runthrough) But I've returned, and I hope everyone is well!

The shows went pretty well--though there were a few semi-disasters on Sunday night. In order to create the atmosphere of London, there are fog machines that are constantly running just to give a bit of a haze to the stage. It's is a really neat effect. On Sunday night they stopped working. In an attempt to fix them, they were unplugged and plugged back in. Apparently this put them into overdrive. Quickly, (VERY quickly actually) the stage and backstage filled with fog. It would not be an exaggeration for me to say that if you were standing all the way upstage you couldn't really see the people standing all the way down stage. I'm not sure what it would be like for the audience, but I imagine it was a similar lack of visibility-especially for the balcony since the fog tends to rise. Eventually things cleared up, but it was quite funny while it lasted.

Some of the kids appear to be getting tired of doing the show. I think back to when I was 10 and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do the show as many times as they have to. Several people (SM, Dance Captain ,etc) keep trying different ways to keep everyone energized and it is working most of the time. Now don't get me wrong, it isn't all of the kids. Some of them are quite spectacular and probably will be until the end of the run, it's just a few that seem to be "over it".

Yesterday was my last day off until Christmas Eve. 12 shows over 9 straight days. It'll be tiring, but I'm excited for the Holidays! Dan was up in DE, so we went to lunch with his mother and went to Jos. A Bank and actually banks and such. Then I went to see Little Shop of Horrors at 11th Hour Theatre Company. Overall, I thought it was spectacular. I was especially impressed by the way they used the very small acting space for a pretty big technical show. (The cast is small, but that doesn't make it a small show.) Seymour (which is, of course, my dream role of dream roles) was fantastic. Great comic timing. I had a few issues with the show, but I tend to have issues with every show now (eeek am I becoming a theatre snob?!) Despite those very small issues, I really enjoyed the production. It was the first show I've ever seen in Philly, and it has set a high standard for my expectations of Philly theatre. Congrats to everyone involved in that production.

Well, this is only an 8 show week, but since the week doesn't really end until next Thursday after 12 shows, it'll be a long week. Whatever, though, 'cause I love my job! 7:30Half Hour 8PM Show Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!