And then it was over

So that's it. Four shows is all you get for 8 weeks of rehearsal. Saturday night's show had some technical problems, but the crowd was a good size. Sunday's show had the most energy and the crowd was fantastic, but small. Everyone in the cast said they would love to do another week of performances and I know that we would get bigger crowds, just on word of mouth. But the set is already just a pile of wood and the costumes are turned it. It's been a wonderful experience and I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the summer. There's still a month of summer to go though and I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with ourselves now!

Right, left, right, left

Here's a shot of Andy and I last night during the show. We finally got it right and nailed the whole number. A big thank you to all my friends and the man who came last night for support. It means more to me than I can express. And to those of you who are coming tonight, I'm afraid there are no guarantees on the dancing. It's an iffy business, but we'll try!

Opening Night Opps!

ACK!

It doesn't matter at all how well something goes, when all said and done all you're going to do is dwell on the part you messed up on. And last night the hoe down dance was a complete train wreck for my partner and I. And we have been killing that number all week! I just started bad and then spiraled out of control for the rest of the dance. We were completely disgusted with ourselves. But other than that, the show went very smooth. The audience wasn't very big, but they applauded loud at the end. Tonight will be better. (I hope!)

Poor Callie wasn't much for getting up this morning and going back to camp. Even knowing their was horseback riding today wasn't enough to motivate her. I'm guessing that after tonight's performance, she is going to completely crash!

The Time Has Come

This is it! Opening night tonight! The preview last night was a big success. Being whores for applause, the whole cast really cranked it up. It helped a lot that it was an audience of mostly other actors who laughing, clapping and whooping it up at all the right times.

The girl is home now, just for the night. We have to return her back to camp before breakfast tomorrow morning, because they are going horseback riding right after breakfast. The camp director decided that it wouldn't be worth her going back tonight, so we get to keep her.

I'm going to remember to take my camera tonight and get some shots. Remember, you never wish an actor "Good Luck", you tell them "Break a Leg"!

One More Day...

Last night's rehearsal was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. My veil behaved itself for the most part and the band is improving. Tonight is the preview, the big test. We'll see how it goes.

In August, we are doing a One-Act Theater Festival and I am in a David Ives piece called "The Universal Language". This play is mostly nonsense words and gibberish. So now I've stopped freaking out about "Joseph" and started severely freaking out about being in a play that makes no sense. Exactly why have I stepped into this arena again?

The eye appointment for the boy had a surprising twist. The previous announcement of one far-sighted and one near-sighted eye is no longer true. He actually had one near-sighted eye and one perfect eye. We've been joking that it's a shame that monocles are no longer in style, because that's all he needs. Since that fashion is out though it will have to be glasses, but not all the time; just for watching TV, movies and school. For running around, sports and reading he can go without them. The frames he picked out make him look very grown-up. *sigh*

2 more days...

The rehearsal last night would have been great, except that it was the first time we had to perform with veils and head coverings. It was terrible. Bobby pins everywhere! Every turn of the head loosens the barely attached piece of cloth and eventually it falls and you have to dance on it because there's no time to kick it away. The casts was very grumpy and everywhere you went there was someone mumbling "I hate this thing!". It also makes you sweat more, which I didn't think was possible. And what does our director say? "You have to wear it. Pick it up and figure it out." Okay. Today the veil and I will be having long involved obedience lessons, after I go and pick up more bobby pins. I also ripped my sleeve almost clean off the the dress in one number. And all I did was lift my arms! Lovely. I'm certain the repair job will be a looker!

Tomorrow is the preview performance, which is the freebie so we get practice in front of an audience. Freaking-out-factor is no longer mounting, but holding steady at just below panic. I dream the show all night long.

Today, Ethan is going for the big eye exam that will finally put him in glasses. There's no escaping it this time. He's got this funky thing going on with his eyes: He's near-sighted in one and far-sighted in the other. Doesn't that make you queasy just thinking about it? I can't even imagine what the world looks like to him! So far his brain has been able to make adjustments and make it work, but things have gotten beyond that point now. I'll put up pics with his new look when they come in. He'll still be killer handsome no matter what though!

3 Days Until Opening Night

Does this sound like confidence?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yeah, I thought not. It's three more days and the freaking-out-factor is growing with every passing moment. It doesn't help at all that yesterday was the first big dress rehearsal with the band, lighting and mics working. We were supposed to be there at noon, but we didn't get working until 2 PM. I could have been cool with all that waiting around if it weren't for the fact that the girl and I had to leave at 2:30 so she could get to camp. We got to rehearse one and half songs before we had to bolt out of there. Not cool, not cool at all.

So the girl is off for a week of Girl Scout camp and spending it sleeping in a big teepee. That's right, sleeping on the ground (on a mattress) in a teepee with eleven other girls. It's a neat looking thing and I'm sure it will be a hoot to sleep in it the first couple of nights, but by the end of the week I'm wondering if the magic wears off. And I know for a fact that those bullfrogs can make a deafening amount of noise when they get going. I'm sure she'll have lots of stories when she comes home.

But now you're thinking "How can the girl be at camp for the week? What about the show?" Ah, believe me, this whole situation has been hashed to death. The final solution is that since she can not, WILL NOT, miss opening night, so we are running out to camp to pick her up, do the show and then run her back after. The show is fairly short, so she could potential be back in the teepee by 10:30, just in time for lights out. How Thursday will actually go is up to the fates now.

Sham-Poo-Poo

I was just counting how many bottles of shampoo and conditioner I have perched on the rail above my shower:

There's twelve.

Twelve bottles, ranging from almost new to technically empty. How has this happened, this ridiculous situation?

The build-up has been gradual. Over the last year my hair and I have been bickering with one another. It just feels, and then looks, crappy all the time. My hair, with which I have always had such a happy-go-lucky relationship, has turned high maintenance and finicky. In desperation to bring peace back to the situation, I would do the only reasonable thing and ditch the current hair products for something that promised more of a commitment to my happiness. But a few weeks later (sometimes not even that long), the same betrayal and the whole process would start again. The result is this wall of bottles standing shoulder to shoulder over the shower door. The family is left to scrub up with whatever is leftover and right now they have an impressive department store of choices.

I recently got a bunch of hair cut off because long hair and heat-to-murder-by don't mix well. As the poor woman fought with my angry tresses she asked which brand of shampoo I was using. All of them, would be the most honest answer, but instead I just picked one.

"Yeah," she mused as she tore, not so nicely through a tangle, "You can't use that anymore. Actually, you're done with anything from the store."

This wasn't news to me, because as you've probably guessed, I've been through everything "from the store", except the stuff that smells fruity, because bugs chase me like I'm walking cotton candy. But even so, I braced myself for the pitch. I would have to buy some super-special and by the way, very-expensive and while were at it, only-available-here, type products which would miraculously solve all my woes.

Ah, but this hair professional has a bit of drug pusher in her. What she does instead is ply me with enough samples to last literally for weeks. "Here, give this a try. And it's 40% for the rest of the month, if it works out. It should help a lot."

Free samples? Designer goods on discount? Baffled, I stuffed my purse and then pockets with the multitude of samples, mumbled my thanks and wandered away. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. How lovely!

The long and the short of it is that this new stuff, so far, seems to know all the lovey-dovey words my hair needs to hear. But this is still the honeymoon phase. I can feel those twelve bottles up there, smirking down. "Whatever sister", They seem to say, "That little guy will be with us before you know it". I tip my head back in the water to drown out their predictions and hope, hope, hope they are not right.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday today to this very diverse group---

John Calvin, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, James Whistler, David Brinkley, Alice Monroe, Arthur Ashe, Jessica Simpson and Ronnie James Dio!

(Thanks for the idea Weaver!)

Weird Al in Concert

Last night, after months of waiting, the kids finally got their birthday present-- A Weird Al concert! The weather was perfect and our seats were great.

Here's the gang who went:

And here's Al! He changed outfits constantly...

Amish Paradise...

Fat...

And the encore, Albuquerque!

Suzette's Dinner Theater

Well, hello there again folks! You all remember me, Big Daddy. A whole lot of you were big fans and customers to my Fix 'Em Up Shop and I thank you. But don't you know the dangest thing happened? One day a big old twister, or something, came and ripped my shop up all to bits! I mean there wasn't two bricks attached to each other by the time it was done! Anyway, I'm not the kind of man to let something like that get me down. I was able to take all that debris and create my newest establishment. Here, let me give you a tour.

This here is Suzette, in the hat, and that's Stephanie, with the hair. Suzette is a chef and boy-oh- boy can she cook up a storm! When I met Suzette, she was looking for a restaurant to cook for. And I was looking for a business to start. Well, to make a long story short, we came up with this. But I didn't want just any old greasy spoon. I wanted something with pizazz! I remember that in all the great western movies, in the saloon, there was a stage with pretty dancing girls. So that's where Stephanie comes in. She runs the entertainment part of the operation. What we've got here is a high class dinner theater! I named it after her because she threw such a fit when I suggested "Big Daddy's Food and a Show". I still like that name better.


You remember this guy from the Fix 'Em Up Shop? Thank goodness he survived that disaster in one piece! We call him Dishwasher-Bot now! You never saw a guy wash dishes like he can! Keep up the good work, fella!


I love my dishwasher guy so much, I went totally modern on the rest of the help. Here's my droid wait staff. These guys are so much better than any human waiter! They never mix up orders, they're always polite and they don't need paid! Go ahead and be rude to them. They'll never spit in your food!


These big guys are my greeters, bussers and occasional bouncers. Some folks might think that they're a little scary looking, but when it comes to heavy lifting, you can't beat them! And they work for free, that's the best part! I like to have them here by the door. It keeps the riff-raff away.

Since this is a dinner theatre, everyone pretty much shows up at the same time. Here's the parking lot filling up.Nobody, and I mean nobody gets in without a reservation. These guys make sure of that.

This kitchen has all the most modern appliances. To set it all up, I gave Suzette carte blanche (that's French for spending my money like water). Looks pretty swell, doesn't it? It better! Stephanie lends a hand in the kitchen when she's not dealing with whatever crisis those actors come up with.

Suzette is a little sensitive about who comes in her kitchen. Whoa, girl! I'm leaving!

Because she's so sensitive, we've got this pick-up window for the droids. They are NEVER allowed in her kitchen!


This is what is called a Green Room, but as you can see, it's not green. Stephanie tells me that it doesn't matter what color it is, it's always called that. Whatever. This is where those good for nothing actors lay around and wait to go on stage. Suzette sends them back food, I just know it! It is just a crime what I have to pay these people to stomp around and act like idiots. Ack! But since the customers seem to like it, what do I know!





Here is tonight's performance. Looks like it some kind of murder mystery...again.... That guy isn't really dead, don't worry. I've seen this show about 20 times now! Heck, I could act out all the parts myself! I've got to talk to Steph about getting those dancing girls...





Here's my office. I'm up here where I can keep an eye out on the whole operation. Especially those good for nothing, free food grubbing actors. Maybe we could get some robot actors. Robot dancing girls? Hmmm...


Thank you all for coming to the show. Drive home safe!