I am Al. That much is obvious, but I like saying it. :D

For the last year or two, I've been a part of various theater productions at school. This most recent one--my last hurrah, so to speak--is Little Shop of Horrors, the musical based on a B-movie from the 60s which was later made into a film starring Rick Moranis and some girl who resembles a llama.

As the show starts coming together, entertaining, amusing things inevitably crop up. This is my last year in drama, and I feel I should chronicle said things, and share them with people who are not involved in them.

That'd be you bunch.

At the end of the year, I'll collect this blog into a syllabus and present it at the Theater Arts End-Of-The-Year Spectacularathon-2009-O-Rama. But this is a handy-dandy way to keep track of my thoughts, and hopefully share some laughs with some people who need laughter-sharing. And you can't get laughter on Napster, or LimeWire, or whatever the hell people use nowadays.

Also, if I got a legitimate blog, nobody would ever read it, and then I'd be sadfaec. :D8: <---Or whatever the hell that is. At least this way, I get some pageviews.

Some. Not many. But hey.

So, starting with today, January 22nd:

***

Rehearsal today mostly consisted of "be as campy as you possibly can be." This includes gesticulating madly to a can of coffee beans that is supposed to represent geraniums, and waving my arms around in excitement over CODs.

Afternoon was spent discussing FailBook (Twilight) with Nikki, and why it fails so epically. Nikki thinks that, since it was Smeyer's first outing as a writer, it needs slack. I and several others pointed out that Star Wars IV is regarded as one of the best in the series (second to V) despite the fact that it was the first. She had no rebuttal.

Racquel interrupted this intellectual conversation and demanded to know where the chorus girls were, because she had a survey for them. She has Downs' Syndrome, and we try to be as accomidating as possible for her, but on occasion she can be very, very pushy.

We were introduced to our new musical director. I promptly burned that bridge when I excitedly asked him if I could call him "New Mark." Mark, of course, being our previous musical director. The fellas didn't find that as funny as I did.

Kenny couldn't keep a straight face while I waved a photo of Seymour's baseball cap in his face. For some reason, he kept cracking up. Iunno. Maybe baseball caps are that hilarious. Oh, and I was eaten by a comfy chair.

See, we used this big comfy chair as a stand-in for Audrey II--the killer plant, for those unfamiliar with the source material--and since my character gets eaten by said plant...well. You know what I'm getting at.

"IT'S KILLING ME WITH FEATHERY SOFTNESS!!!"

Questions for the day:

1) What is a "hottie alert?"

2) How could anyone, anywhere, justify liking Edward Cullen?

Perhaps I'll turn it into a video blog sometime.

Yesterday saw Mr. Allen give his bi-annual Rage-Filled Speech about how we're not working hard enough...triggered by me, of course.

Though it wouldn't have gone as far as it did if Matt hadn't said something. So it's not ALL my fault. Felt bad, but it was bound to happen. It's good it happened when it did.

Redeemed myself at lunch with the power of Insane Rambling Monologues--among them, the tale of dear old Uncle Fred's battle with the Veet-Nam Communatsees, Nate the Swamper's Swamper Dance, Teh Been Peepol, and some old favorites: Halos in Space (starring Joe Chief), Doom: Reprecussions of Evil, and QuarterLife: Halfway To Destruction.

If I'd thought of it, I'd have thrown some My Immortal at them too. Read something enough times, you start memorizing it.

This was also my girlfriend's introduction to the wackiness that is drama people. Violet was not amused by her presence. Part of my afternoon was spent chewing her out for being a piss-pot after she inexplicably kicked me.

Oh. And we met our new musical director. He doesn't seem very impressed with us. :(

This blog will now hibernate until Monday.

Huh boy. Sounds like this could be an interesting experience. Can't wait to hear more al!

Oh hey, someone posted in here. Someone who's not me.

Astounding.

***
Very little of interest happened today. The entire chorus spent the day rehearsing the second to last song in the show. Mark decided to focus exclusively on the parts that the baritones--of which I am a member--didn't have to sing, but kept us around anyway.

So when Mr. Allen decided to bring Mushnik and Understudy in to block a scene, then decided to focus on the parts of said scene that didn't involve Mushnik, I was simultaneously annoyed that I still had nothing to do, and grateful that I could at least stand up and walk around.

And wear the bitchin' coat that hangs in the dressing room. It looks good on me.

Taylor fell on her face. This marks the third time during the show's production that she has fallen somehow. She and gravity clearly do not have a good rapport.

The only other interesting thing happened as I was strolling outside, where the technical crew was hard at work sawing and nailing and building our sets. Once such technical person waved and said "Hi Alex!"

At which point, a man who I would later learn was her father--a semi-imposing, bearded man with sunglasses--said "Alex? We've heard about you," in about the most serial-killer-southern-drawl.

This amused me more than anything else. We wound up having a brief conversation about how he's trying to intimidate every member of the cast in some way. Or somesuch thing. Seemed like an interesting fellow.

...he DID pull a switchblade on me though.

And I'm out $40 because I couldn't sell an ad, and--once again--had to buy one myself. At first I wanted to say something profound, or vague, but wound up putting the number to a sex hotline in the ad.

I wonder if they'll mind?

Today was another slow day. That's not to say nothing got done, but it was slow-paced, that's all.

We spent the morning rehearsal, once again, doing Mean Green Mother from Outer Space--a song which I shall later illustrate through the use of a DBZ AMV starring Piccolo. It works.

Afterward, the chorus cleared out and the leads stayed behind to work a few songs with Mark, since he'll be leaving after Thursday. This reminded me of how cool Mark is and how sad it'll be with him gone.

The good news? "Closed for Renovation," my archnemesis, is now perfectly singable for me. And it wasn't a few weeks ago, so, progress.

Afternoon was spent in the rehearsal room, with the other leads (sans Seymour), getting to know Brian--who, if you haven't read the last few posts, is our new musical director after Mark.

Brian's a cool guy. As it would so happen, he was in Little Shop when HE was in high school, starred as Mushnik--my role--and so he knows the play about as well as we do. He's incredibly easy to work with, and he gives outstanding direction. Mark never gave direction, he only gave us the information we needed and let us have at it.

It's good to have SOME direction for my character when I'm trying to sing. He helped out the other leads too, especially the Denti.

Denti being the plural for Dentist, of course. :D

So we'll see where that goes. My fingers are cold now, so I'll stop typing.

The aforementioned AMV:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR3M8uuswJQ[/YOUTUBE]

XD Nice. Threatened by a serial-killer-imitator one second, singing the next. Actually, that might make a good musical...

And as to the vid, you're right, that does fit him perfectly. [insert obligatory Big Green joke here]

Can we see footage of you singing and/or performing once you get the stuff down?

Yesterday was mostly uneventful. It was Mark's last day, so there was sorrow all around.

This sorrow turned into joy when Vicky and Kim put Mark's hair in pigtails. Pictures exist. Somewhere.

Then Mark proceeded to go on an hour long tangent about the new play he's attached to. Following this, we blocked a scene--the last scene I'm in--and called it a day. Ho-hum.

Oh, and today, a bunch of **** got stolen.

Or, well, a PSP got stolen, the latest in a rash of thievings. Since there was no 5th period today (block scheduling), it had to have occurred between the end of lunch and the end of class, ergo, sixth period. So tomorrow I'm going to go into that class and menace the freshmen some.

Maybe I'll bring someone tall with me.

There was nothing to do today. Seriously. In the morning, we ran the show (because we had two hours, due to block scheduling), and after school, ran it again with the understudies. So I spent most of it backstage talking about erotic dreams and FailBook (Twilight).

No rehearsal tomorrow. This blog shall hibernate until Monday.

And yes, Darky, there will be footage as soon as time allows. Cone's honor.

I'm tall! Can I come? XD Seriously, though, if it was them, give the freshmen an ALcone punch for me though, eh?

And I'm probably gonna sound like an idiot here, but what's a "Cone"?

A cone is a geometric shape made up of a pyramidal structure with a circular base.

And Mr. Allen changed his mind on my lecture, so...D:

But today was epic. Unusually epic. Primarily because I actually did something, since most days recently have boiled down to "Everybody but Alex has something important to do."

So what did I do today? I stood in for...well, for just about every vocal part during a dance rehearsal for Skid Row, one of the first numbers in the show.

See, for whatever reason, everybody was dancing and nobody was singing. Not something I understood, and it sounded frightfully bare.

At least some of it is on tape. I'll have to talk to Jessicaguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunn! about getting it, but this seems more like a "show, don't tell," kind of deal. Basically though, it boils down to the song being sung as:

-A Southern plantation owner

-William Shatner

-Liquid Snake

-Generic Dorky Voice

-80s Rock Vocalist

...and I think that might be it. But DAMN I had fun. And everyone else was entertained. :D

This afternoon was much more low key. Myself and the other leads had a quick vocal with Brian. Outside of that, very little happened, except that Jeanette started crying because she was afraid that she'd missed a few notes, and Taylor doodled all over the white board in the rehearsal room. The former was sadfaec, the latter was greatly amusing. She's very, very little, and so she had to stand on a chair just to reach the bulk of the board.

And she was wearing heels. Exceptionally high heels.

It was a good day overall.

Today wasn't quite as awesome as yesterday. I subbed for Seymour/other vocal parts during the dance rehearsal again, but it wasn't as much fun, especially since I used up all my best material yesterday.

Afternoon rehearsal bordered on melancholic. We did some adjustments for one of the songs, which is great because we needed to--it basically goes like this:

Plant: LALALALALALALAAAAAAAAA

Mushnik: I am speaking lines now.

Plant: LALALALALALALAAAAAAAAA!

Mushnik: I have to say them quickly--

Plant: LALALALALALALAAAAAAAAA!

Mushnik: --or else Kai will have to sing over--

Plant: LALALALALALALAAAAAAAAA!

Mushnik: Me.

Plant: ................I THINK IT'S SUUUUPPERTIIIIIIIIIME...!

Other than that, it was a big healthy dose of The Return of Fed Ex, the most insufferably haughty, stuck-up person on the planet, who thinks she can go backstage to a production she's not even a part of and boss around one of the leads. Namely, me.

It ******* sucks. Everytime she opens her mouth I'm a split second away from telling her off, but I can never keep my thoughts clear enough to do it. And it pisses me off. I can articulate myself just fine if I'm writing, sure, but if I have to think up a big angry speech on the spot, I just freeze up.

One of these days, Fed Ex, one of these dayayayayayayayayyyyyys...!

And someone photoshopp'd Mr. Allen's face onto the body of an extremely muscular fellow, printed it, got thirty photocopies, and put them up everywhere.

We were amused. Mr. Allen was not.

I talked to Jessicaguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunn! about getting the footage from yesterday. She said she'd see what she could do.

Not much else to say. Iunno. I'm feeling rather down at the moment. Sometimes I think too much about things I shouldn't think about.

Today went better than yesterday, for a number of reasons. First, I had something to do for most of the time, and second, it was an overall more fun rehearsal than is the norm.

Had a date a few hours before rehearsal started, but when that was all squared away, I migrated over to the school, and spent an hour and a half chilling in the rehearsal space and drawing on the white board. It's more fun than it sounds.

For most of the afternoon, we were blocking the finale. It turns out that I have to wear a flower costume. And be a flower. Because that's what happens when plants eat stuff. It turns into flowers.

Makes sense.

...

Wait, what?

Kay, so, flytraps poop flowers. What elllllse...?

Ah! Brian told the Audreys (Audries?) that they kept mangling a line in one of their songs ("I'd meet a man and/I'd follow him blindly," became "I'd meet a mandand; I'd follow him blindly).

Brian: I kept asking myself "What is a Mandand?"

Alex: It's a small, North American rodent.

Laughter, laughter. Then I drew a mandand on the white board, incurring more laughter. Alas, it'll be gone come Super Saturday--eight-hour rehearsal from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM--because Allen must not have fun things in his department.

...or we're just replacing the white boards with mirrors.

In any event, I'll take pictures of the white board tomorrow and post them here.

Good day, overall.

UGH.

Yesterday was tedium in excelsius. It was essentially "Everybody but Alex has something to do, except for five minutes total during the entire rehearsal." It was the most boring rehearsal I've been in, dating back to last year. And there have been some pretty bad ones in the past.

During the course of this blog, I may come off as self-centered, and for that I apologize. Yes, of course I realize that it isn't just about me in the show. It's just that when I'm writing from my own perspective, the reader gets an earful (or an eyeful, I guess) of what I'm feeling. Not so much what, say, Lewis or Kayla are feeling.

Though I can assume Lewis is as bored as I am--he had nothing to do either--and Kayla just hates everything. Such is Kayla.

The only interesting thing happened after rehearsal, when The Stinch and I, along with Lewis and the Junior Stinch, were having a conversation in the driveway.

Out of nowhere, The Stinch asks "Do you believe in evolution?"

Thinking this would be a springboard for another fundamentalist Christian rant, I treaded lightly. "Uh, if by that you mean that I accept it as valid scientific theory, then yes, I do."

Then she went off on this tangent about human evolution 5 million years into the future, and the "values that we value." Lewis and I were adequately nonplussed by the entire occurence.

And her sister tried to bring middle school drama into it all, which we laughed at heartily. THAT was fun.

But overall...mmmmeeerrggghhh...

I did get photos of the white board; I'll get those up eventually.

And NOW I'm competing with Lizard-Man. How can I compete with a Mutant Genetic Abomination?

Regardless, today was all right. I had slightly more to do, and was generally entertained the entire time.

The morning was uneventful. Stephanie and I went around campus putting up posters in classroom windows. With the exception of some prick who wanted to start something with me, it went smoothly.

Nothing was started, by the by.

In comes the afternoon. Few real highlights, but overall, a nice day. For the last two musical numbers, we have li'l plant puppets that some of the chorus has to wear, and they pop up around the set and "sing." Apparently, they are very very heavy, especially when you're up there for twenty minutes dancing them around and LALALALA MEAN GREEN MOTHER FROM OUTER SPACE-ing. There was much complaining from all sides.

Mm, there was one notable occurrence--an improvised monologue of Audrey--the waifish, meek female lead--as Heath Ledger's Joker. The folks backstage enjoyed it heartily, and so I asked Jessicaguuuuuuuuuuuunn! if we could include it as the intro to the cast video. She agreed.

I'll post it when it's made.

Oh! And pictures! I'll get them up naokthnx! Bear with me; they're all quite large and so I had to link them directly.

The whiteboard.

Close up of the King, explaining what all true warriors strive for.

Mr. Angry Eggleplant, so named because he resembles an eggplant, and is angry.

Mr. Anger.

Henry the Giraffe Eater.

The infamous Mandand, followed by blindfolded Audrey.

Close-up of blindfolded Audrey, following the Mandand.

I'm reviewing stuff, you'll just recounting your day Al. We have nothing in common and I'm not competing with you. Heck I'm still waiting for someone to even comment in my page.

Anyway... angry eggplant huh? Thats way weirder then some of the stuff I drew in elementary school. And I drew man eating jack-o-lanterns.

Super Saturday!!!

...was not as super as we were lead to believe. Though it WAS on a Saturday, so I guess it wasn't a complete lie.

Naturally, the day started out with me running late. After leaping forth from the shower, I grabbed my costume and raced to the car, where I was driven--with a great heaping helping of "Why are you always late?"--to school by me father.

I came in just as roll was being taken, so not all was lost, and as the day wore on, it got slowly more tolerable. But it took a while to get to that point.

As I assumed, Allen did not like much of my costume. My tie was too ugly, and I looked too young, so I need to get a haircut and apply make-up to make myself look elderly. But otherwise, A-plus!

The day continued. Super Saturday was a day to work the technical issues of the show and hammer out the finer details, so the acting and singing did not come first. Nevertheless, I was unable to get into a groove whenever I was onstage, or singing backstage, and that frustrated the hell out of me.

Imagine working so hard to do so well, convincing yourself that you can make a commanding presence for yourself, outshine your damn older brother, and shut all those damn seniors from last year right the hell up, and then going out and underperforming every single damn time you were called on to do anything.

I was...frustrated, to say the least.

But everybody was supportive, and at the end, I was finally able to get back into the character I'd built, and that was all fun and happy. Laughter and joy.

There were sandwiches, and and and cookies too. :D

I recall giving a dramatic reenactment of the Spanish-American war for Nikki, being the table in a game of cards (it's easy and fun--you just lay there and have cards placed on your head. Whee!) and lots and lots and lots and LOTS of hugs.

There was a point where Sean--the Seymour understudy--was onstage filling in for Kenny, but, for whatever reason, he missed his cue and didn't come on when he was supposed to. So you have poor Mariana, reciting her lines to...well, nobody, and since Sean was completely absent when it was time for him to speak...

It went something like this:

Mariana: ...the young, botanical--do you mind if I call you a genius?

Kenny: (from audience, shouting) Gosh, no!

It was lulzy.

There was also a radio prop in the scene...but all we had was an old style 1930s radio. So I placed it on my shoulder and strutted around, listenin' to phat tewnz on mah...old style 1930s radio.

It was fuuuuuuun.

Claire keeps having erotic dreams about me. It's flattering, but rather odd too. People don't usually have erotic dreams about me unless I'm doing erotic things to them, and I haven't done anything erotic to Claire. Ah, but she's high-larious and entertaining, so I'll let it slide.

And Fudge'ums (AKA other Kenny, the understudy for Mushnik) introduced a new dynamic to the Mushnik character: a CANE! So that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

And a hat. The hat looks cool.

And I have different hair! I may wind up doing my hair this way more often, as it's quite becoming on me. But since I have an impending haircut...D8

Ah, well.

If I think of anything else, I'll add them, but that was Super Saturday in a nutshell. I'll be back on Tuesday.

*collapses*

Take my advice? If you absolutely must spend all day peddling play posters to various businesses around town, don't do it in the middle of a rainstorm.

Because I did just that. I don't regret it, since I enjoy the rain, but there were times when the constant deluge hindered me. And the wind? Don't get me started.

After spending the morning in the DMV (which is a party in and of itself), I hopped onto the trolley and zoomed uptown to begin my quest to educate the learned masses about Little Shop. Where did I go with my wares, you may ask?

Starbucks! Starbucks! Starbucks! *confetti*

...

Three. Not one three times.

I'd had two in mind, specifically, but when the first one rejected my advances, I had to revise my plan and hit one a little ways off the beaten track.

By this time, I was completely soaked from shin to thigh (my torso and head were comfortably covered in a nice, heavy rain jacket), and starving, in addition to freezing. Thus I zoomed into the local supermarket, procured a bowl of hot soup (broccoli chedder :awesome: ) swung by a sandwich shoppe and snagged a sandwich, and sat down to enjoy my first meal of the (by now very trying) day.

Thus satisfied, I returned to my work, hitting a second Starbucks--the other of my original two targets. I was rebuffed by a genuinely unpleasant human being, and took my business to a rival coffee place right next door. The lady there was very kind, and allowed me to leave a poster with the newspapers and books. I can't guarantee that one'll stick, though.

I next hit up a book store, but was turned away (due to store policy; the clerks were most amused by my sales pitch though). My options thinning, I decided to try my luck in another part of town and attempted to hop on the trolley again, when I glimpsed the movie theater. Seeing an opportunity, I swung in, explained to the manager what I was up to, and promptly placed a poster in a very conspicuous location. Success!

Encouraged, I postponed my return trip and high-tailed it to a second book store, hoping for better luck. I was put on hold for ten minutes while the manager waddled up to me, and after a quick explanation, was informed that store policy (once again) prohibited advertisements. She took a poster though and promised to try and find somewhere to put it.

I was exhausted, unfortunately, and though I had one more poster left, I was too beat to continue my search. I returned to the trolley, zoomed home, trudged upstairs, and explained the situation in the (newly rechristened) Little Blog of Horrors.

And THAT was my day. How was yours?

Well, it sounds like you had an eventful day. *nodnod* Sucks you had to walk around in the rain, though.

Wow.

HEY AL

Whoa, al, sounds like you're having a blast! Makes me wish I could be in theater. Thanks for the pics - they were quite entertaining. (Very nearly got me in trouble too - I'm in my school library and I abou burst out laughing when I saw the mandand. I found that one very funny for some reason.) Can we hear what your sales pitch was that the clercks found so funny?

The pitch was ad-libbed. Very spur-of-the-moment; I can't remember any of it for the life of me. Otherwise, I'd recount it completely.

I'm sorry I wasn't around the last two days. It's been busy and hectic; rehearsals run 'til 7 now, I don't get home until 7:30, and I'm usually too exhausted to do anything. I've been going to bed early a lot lately, and waking up groggy in the morning--groggiER, I should say.

I've been really down about my performance recently. It's just not where I think it should be this late into the process. There's a lot that needs adjustment.

For example, Fudge--my understudy--brought in a cane for the character to use, and it's been throwing me off ever since I started using it. I might just axe it altogether.

It bugs me sometimes that my understudy is much, much better than I am. At everything.

Iunno, I'm just not very jolly at the moment. Maybe I'll post some fun stories tomorrow. There might be more then.

Rehearsal has been a real downer lately. I'm hoping that pattern changes tomorrow with our second Super Saturday, but who honestly knows?

But you don't come here to read depressing crap. You come for lulz. Have I lulz? It's debatable.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ptryAYKko[/YOUTUBE]

Months old, but still lulzy. And loosely related. I'm on the left. The dapper fellow on my right is the indefatigable Kenneth "The Sex," Sexhaur.

The last few rehearsals were a complete blur. And I was so wiped after all of them that I couldn't bring myself to write about them.

But tonight--tonight was opening night. And it was incredible. Just shy of perfect.

...Of course, my mic kept falling off of my face while I sang. THAT was a riot. [/obvioussarcasm]. But still. Amazingtastiful. Everything was just...I really have no words; this has been such a great day for me that I'm still sorting everything out.

Though, naturally, FedEx has to make an effort to ruin it.

So after the show, during the mingling in the foyer, she takes me aside, looks me in the eye and says "You have to stop doing your own make-up."

That's it. No congratulations. No words of encouragement. She takes me aside and criticizes my make-up.

Of course, the effervescent Nicole Blade did my make-up, and I tell her so, then point out that she had to zero in on that one, minor part of my performance, rather than anything else. She goes on to say "You surprised me by being really good."

...

Why yes. That WAS the rudest way you could have phrased that, thank you very much.

Bitch.

But still. It was an amazing night. I got to see some folks from last year--mostly Jamie Bergmark, who holds a very special place in my heart for being one of the absolute nicest people I have ever known--which made it even better. If I can get all the seniors from drama last year in that auditorium and have them watch the performance, if only as a hilarious "***** you, this is how good I am," then I can die happily.

I really am overjoyed over today. Everything's finally coming together again. I could not possibly be happier.

:)

Oh. Um. I have a video and a picture from Super Saturday that I want to share, but I'll have to do that later, because I'm far too handsome to do it right now.

Sounds cool al! Glad your opening night went so well. I'm no thesbian, but I've got enough theater friends who've gone through enough play/musicals to know how important (and awesome) a good opening night is. Sorry that girl was a jerk to you but, you know, screw her, sounds like you did awesome! Can't wait to see the vid.

It's actually "thespian." With a P. That's how you remember it. :P

The last couple of shows have gone well enough. The only problem is the swings--the understudies who get to perform one night out of the week. It's not that they're bad (well...some moreso than others. -_-;) it's that they're too much of a variable. You work with one person every night out of the week, you get into a rhythm, and then some upstart new person comes in and it completely throws off your timing in some instances.

For instance, during one of the songs, Audrey's swing--Jeanette, whom I refer to as Jeanettalia (to her secret joy)--sang the wrong lyric, which threw off Kenny--Seymour--which threw off myself. Then she missed another cue in the same song. It was all very annoying.

...and they tend not to be as good as the actual leads, but that's besides the point.

There were also some technical issues that are boring and I don't want to get into. More than that, a duet of things got torn. The first is a scrim--a backdrop that we put on for certain scenes, which we rented for a large sum of money. Allen said that wasn't too big a deal. The second was a costume that I wear at the end of the show--I tore it in my struggle to get it off. Fortunately, we made those, so it should be simple enough to repair it.

Oh! Um um. Um. After the show, during the post-show mingling, the dentist from when we did the show four years ago--Chance--came up to me and started congratulating my performance.

So I said "You're Chance, right? Yeah, you were friends with my brother. He was also Mushnik."

His face lights up, he laughs, and tells me that I was better than my brother.

That was the single most gratifying part of my evening.

:D

Ah, thanks. I've been spelling it wrong for years. Good to know. Thank you other friends who never corrected me [/sarcasm]. And cool! Always nice to hear that you did better than your sibling! And hey, if only two things have been torn so far, you're doing good! I remember one year, when our school did Little Women, I believe a glass vase broke onstage and they had to attempt to clean it up during the scene changes. Can't wait to see the videos dude!

I'll try and get those vids when I can--I lent Jessicaguuuuuuuuuunn! my camera so she could get them for the cast video.

Mmf.

I went over to where I did my advertising during the rainstorm. My posters had all been taken down.

The ones I inquired about and was allowed to put up by local businesses were all taken down. You could still see the tape in one spot.

You spend all afternoon doing a thankless task, and you come back and see that the fruits of your efforts have all been unceremoniously torn down. It's just...invalidating.

Tomorrow begins our last three shows, though I won't be on for tomorrow's. I WILL, however, be on during the student preview show tomorrow morning, which is ALWAYS a fun time.

Last year's was awful. Catcalls, random shouting--it's very hard to perform when you cram five hundred douchebags into an auditorium, and not a one among them has any respect for what you're doing.

But that was Beauty and the Beast. This one might get off easy, since it lacks the campy, sugary Disneyness of last year.

Thursday night was boring--for me, at any rate, since I wasn't on. Spent most of it kicking back and/or pacing. Nothing really to tell there.

We got rave reviews from the crowd last night, but truthfully, I felt this was a weak show--at least at the beginning. Things started out poorly when one of the scrims got stuck and only pulled halfway offstage. So we got half a big-honkin' drape that's painted to look like New York just kinda...hanging across half of the stage. It was mildly amusing, but very irksome.

Later on, one of my suspenders launched off of my shoulder during a scene. Played it off fairly well though. "Oy, first my suspender and now THIS?!"

Getz as the dentist was...well, Getz as the dentist. It took him far, far longer than it should have to get onstage during one scene--his entrance. Basically, it's supposed to go:

(SFX VROOM VROOM)

Audrey: Oh, I'd better get ready. My date'll be here any minute!

(SFX VROOMVROOM DENTIST WALKS ON STAGE)

Last night, it went like this:

Audrey: Oh, I'd better get ready. My date'll be here any minute!

(SFX VROOM VROOM VROOM VROOM VROOM..*waits*...VROOM. VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. VROOM.)

Brian had to loop the VROOMVROOM effect for like 60 seconds while we waited for Getz to FINALLY get onstage. And when he did, he took hammy to a new level, screwed up his song timing multiple times and just generally was laughed at more than with.

Dammit Getz.

But the rest of the show went swimmingly. Afterward, I was talking to Nikki's sister--the younger, and less haughty, one--and she was appalled at FailBook. She was unable to comprehend the ending I wrote, where Edward transformed into Optimus Prime and slaughtered Bella with abandon.

And THAT was amusing, to say the least. :D

Tonight is closing night. It's...depressing.

Really wish you guys could be there. I really, really do.

Tonight was our last show.

Sad. Faec.

It went well. Actually, it went amazing, but hey, nitpicks.

First thing we did was get into costume and enjoy a very stressful photo shoot. I have literally dozens of pictures to share, but it'll have to wait until later on. Rest assured, though, the pictures are made of both win and awesome.

And some kid got caught with several cell phones in his bag. Some wee little kid. I halfway believe him when he said he didn't take them, but common sense is telling me that he did. Especially since, whoops, my phone turned out to be missing at the end of the day.

>:(

There were two instances where prop failure nearly did me in. Once, during a song, when I came onstage with a phone, the cord wasn't plugged from the receiver into the phone itself. Ergo,

"Yes indeed, this is the flower shop where--oh my goodness, who am I talking to? Oh well; they'll find out eventually. (resume song)"

The other happened later on. I was trying to tuck a flashlight into a (nonexistent) jacket pocket while I delivered one of my lines. When I realized that said pocket was nonexistent...well, see.

"Seems they made a routine investigation into the disappearance of the--I don't have a pocket there."

Cue laughter. Cue growing laughter. Cue laffy-daffy laughter. Cue laughter dying down.

Cue repressed smile on my face during the rest of that line.

At the end of the show, just before we went on for the last number, I was standing next to Taylor backstage, and I said to her "It's been fun. Thank you."

Later on, she would tell me that I came a hairs' breadth from making her burst into tears, and that she was fake-angry at me.

Aww.

The cast party was sexcellent. There was a balcony and and and music and and...SODA.

All things you could get anywhere, but still.

I brought my (increasingly ill) girlfriend to the cast party, and despite her (increasing) illness, she swore she had a nice time. Which I can believe, since was close with a lot of the people there. Fun was had by all.

And I got best actor! Again! :D

The cast video was great--much better than last year's. There were so many palpable "aww," moments and "teeheehee," moments, and I was the Audrey/Joker, and and we saw Mark--I miss Mark.

Nothing compares to my spray-painted multi-faced Buddha head though. I will treasure that eternally.

This whole play has been an amazing experience--way better than Beauty and the Beast. The cast, the crew, the...heck, the set, just everything was spectacular. And it depresses me that I can never show any of y'all what I did up there. This isn't some angsty poem or moe fanart I can link you to. This is something that I can only do nine--eight--nights out of the year. Something I may never do again.

Once the reunion swings along, understand that I WILL force people to watch the DVD of the show. That is non-negotiable.

...<3

....What? Explain, please! I do not understand the significance of such things in the crazy world of theater!

Seriously, though, it sounds like a lot of fun. Wish I could have been there. Nice improv, by the way! You had me laughing with the pocket line and I was just reading it! Any way you can get the DVD online for those of us who can't go to the reunion?

Sounds like it was quite the last show. Such touching moments. *sighs*

...oh great...getting a high school flashback....I need a moment......OYE! Darkie! I thought you were (hopefully) coming to the Reunion? :D8:

Unfortunately, no CraZy. The friend that would have gotten me there can't go to the Comic Con, so I have pretty much no chance. Lo siento! I really wanted to go too!

Further spamming of this pic.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/Zombieguy/recent002.jpg

^_^ I'll get more pics of the show up later on. I know, I know, it's very much overdue. Please bear with me.

I wasn't aware Little Shop had a Joker-wannabe character in it. XD

It doesn't. XP It's supposed to be Audrey as the Joker.

I'll get the monologue up in the near future, and post for all to see.

Cool. Out of curiosity, is that you or somebody else in the crossdressing there. And, while I'm at it, does it count as cross-dressing if you're a guy, dressed up (or wigged up at least) as a girl, who's trying to look like another guy (the Joker)?