Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Booze and wimmin...wimmin and booze...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
It's the day of the show, y'all!!!!


Anytime I get an excuse to #1 Use "y'all" and #2 Quote "Waiting for Guffman" is fine by me.

Tonight is officially opening night for my first kind of bigish-time Chicago show! I am thrilled beyond words to open this bad boy to the public. We've already had 3 previews, and minus one matinee (because I mean honestly, who enjoys matinees? Actors hate them, audiences hate them...it's always lose/lose) the show has been fantastic. I think I can speak for myself and some of the cast when I say that I had no idea how the audience would react to this show. It's a world premiere of a brand new script based off a NYT best seller/movie/TV show. I mean, I know it's good, and the cast/crew/director knows that it's good, but there is always that worry that the audience won't latch onto it. That they'll sit there in awe of how awful they think it is.

Thankfully, that hasn't been the case (at least thus far). We've had a great reaction from the public and realized that this show, while dramatic, has a lot of funny moments in it. Like, funny moments that we didn't even know were funny. And now, going into opening night, I feel confident that this show will get the reaction it deserves.

I haven't updated much on the process of rehearsals for this show, but I will say now that I feel like I've been ruined forever by how much I've enjoyed working on this show. Going in, I really didn't know what to expect, but in the back of my mind I thought "There's 15 actors in this thing. There is bound to be some tension/divas/fisticuffs or whatever that is going to happen at some point." But, I have had such a grand ol' time doing this show. Everyone has been a joy to work with, onstage and off, and they have pushed me to become a better actor. I can't tell you how inspiring it is to work with actors who consistently talk about character relationships and back story and story arcs. I guess I worked in educational theatre for so long where people treated classes and shows like chores (and I am guilty of this a time or two, as well) that this process has reminded me why I wanted to be an actor in the first place. And I could go on and on about how much I love my director, not only because his sailor mouth is worse than mine (which I adore), but because he's pushed me to discover who my characters were and how I could portray them in the best way possible. He exemplifies what I enjoy about working with directors.

I sound like such a cheeseball, but all of this is true. I'm not blowing smoke up anyone's asses (except if it works, then I will grovel til the cows come home!). My first 2 forays into Chicago theatre were fine, but this experience is why I moved here. And even if the critics rip us a new asshole, I'll still make weird Kathy faces and slutty Betty dance moves with pride. I'm proud of this show and what the cast has accomplished. For anyone a part of the process reading, I thank you.

A good scurvy to all, and to all some good socks.
 
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