Final Dress

Superstition dictates that you never want your final dress rehearsal to go smoothly. If things go too well during your last rehearsal before your opening night, everything that didn't go wrong then, will go wrong during opening night.

Luckily for me, my final dress was quite disastrous.

In the interest of time and in the interest of having your continued interest in my blogs, I'll submit for you a list. A list of things not quite right:

Mental cracking of knuckles, deep breath, *ahem*:

-the set up crew arrived late (10 minutes)

-the light board operator arrived late (15 minutes after the house was to be opened)

-the conductor arrived late (20 minutes after the show was to have started)

-the trombone player arrived late (don't know when, don't really care)

-once the set up crew arrived, they set things in the wrong place

-the director asked to rehearse a bit onstage...undoing most of the things we had finally set correctly

-jewelry that was set on a table onstage got bumped off and rolled into the orchestra pit (never, ever a good thing)

-once the conductor arrived, he started the show without me...the singers are supposed to enter in darkness and THEN the conductor is supposed to start the music...guess which happened first? I would have banged my head on my score at this point, but the ache in my skull was already doing a fine job of banging

- a TV monitor that was supposed to get turned off before the final black out, was left on, clearly illuminating the stage and the singers trying to exit unseen in the dark.

-the costume dresser who was supposed to be assisting the singers with their quick changes dropped more hangers and noise making items than anyone in the history of trying to be quiet backstage (including my intern Sarah during Sweeney Todd...were you there for that Cristina?)

-Same sed dresser was nowhere to be found during the intermission, so one singer went onstage wearing the wrong costume. (they're singers, not rocket scientists, and to be fair, this is one of the hardest operas I've ever worked on).

-my assistant stage manager kept getting lost in the score....never a good thing

-same sed asm kept stepping into the open doorways on the set to cue singers.
FYI: Even if you're wearing black, you can still be seen if you step out onto the stage...

Tonight is opening night for Powder Her Face.

It's going to be flawless, yes?

Stay tuned...