Well, yesterday was great fun, as anticipated. It was the first time I’d ever been involved in the setting up of a show, and it was fascinating watching the extensions built to the front of the stage, the set being constructed – all right, it wasn’t a particularly complex set, but there was still a huge almost of work involved. Most of the cast were there for most of the day, and there was a great feeling of camaraderie. It wasn’t that we were all needed for all of that time, but that we needed to be there to be called on as and when we were needed. And being right in the town centre, we had trips out to get coffee or pick up extra odds and ends from the shops as required. I am completely in awe of the stage manager, that kind of organisation is totally beyond me. I can’t delegate, I can’t even keep track of what I need to do myself, let alone be able to tell other people what they should be doing. And he was in the chorus too.
And the show in the evening turned out just great. We didn’t have a full rehearsal, so we never had a proper dress rehearsal, but somehow it all worked. The concept is that it is set in a nightclub, apart from the manager (producer), waitresses and bar staff, the rest of us were just punters who milled around, sat at the tables, chatted, drank, flirted etc in the background while the soloists and dancers did their numbers, and then got up and did our bits for the production numbers. So effectively all of the business was improvised and it was never the same twice in rehearsals, so we had never been all the way through. The joke for me was that during rehearsals the waitresses kept coming round with trays of ‘drinks’ and I got bombarded with them, but last night, when they were actually pouring out ‘drinks’ behind the bar, I couldn’t get one, so all of my business revolved around me constantly wanting a drink and not being able to get one, including complaining to the manager and going up to the bar and having a row with the bar staff..
The house was packed and the audience really seemed to enjoy themselves. And we’re doing it all again tonight. Interesting to see what happens this time. And then we’ll have to take everything down and clear the theatre afterwards. It’s going to be a late night.