The stage manager's view of a show Well. Superstition has proven to be fact. The final dress for Powder Her Face was far from perfect, leaving me hope that the opening night performance would go well, and go well it did.
The singers were fantastic! They truly sounded great and put forth an amazing performance.
The costumes stayed together, no malfunctions here.
The set almost made it through in one piece. One of the four doors broke, leaving one of my running crew to be a human door knob, holding the broken door closed until intermission when it could be temporarily fixed.
And of course, I called a flawless show. The end of the show stirred in me the urge to high five...which I quickly stamped down.
This turned into one of those project where all the hard work actually paid off. Cliche, I know. But sometimes cliche can leave you warm and fuzzy. Of course, that could just be me.
The night was capped with drinks at the Hotel Figuero in downtown L.A. To those who have heard of my opening night antics for Hansel and Gretel a few years back (a small miscalculation of my ability to park my truck after trying to drink a horrendous performance away), I am proud to say that, not only did I remember where my truck was in the morning, I found it NOT parked in the middle of the street.
All celebration aside, I have to make clear that just because the final dress rehearsal was a shamble leaving the opening night clear for success, this does not mean that all subsequent performances will be in the clear, as evidenced by our second performance.
To be brief, here are some things that didn't go as planned:
The maestro forgot his shoes. He conducted the show in his socks. I'm not kidding. At least he had his pants...
The soprano, instead of unhooking her costume string of pearls and tossing them down, tore them from her neck, scattering little pearl pellets all over the stage, and raining pinging pearl drops into the pit.
Same soprano nearly tore her wig off trying to remove a costumed hat during a scene...I'll refer to my earlier blog comment on the non-rocketscience-mindedness of some singers.
Another soprano was nearly blinded by the costume dresser I also mentioned in my previous blog. There's nothing less productive than instead of helping a singer get dressed in the dark, you poke her in the eye right before she re-enters the stage, blinding her so she can't see the stage manager giving her a cue to enter...
So, note to all you dressers out there: do not poke a singer in the eye. it helps no one.
-v
The singers were fantastic! They truly sounded great and put forth an amazing performance.
The costumes stayed together, no malfunctions here.
The set almost made it through in one piece. One of the four doors broke, leaving one of my running crew to be a human door knob, holding the broken door closed until intermission when it could be temporarily fixed.
And of course, I called a flawless show. The end of the show stirred in me the urge to high five...which I quickly stamped down.
This turned into one of those project where all the hard work actually paid off. Cliche, I know. But sometimes cliche can leave you warm and fuzzy. Of course, that could just be me.
The night was capped with drinks at the Hotel Figuero in downtown L.A. To those who have heard of my opening night antics for Hansel and Gretel a few years back (a small miscalculation of my ability to park my truck after trying to drink a horrendous performance away), I am proud to say that, not only did I remember where my truck was in the morning, I found it NOT parked in the middle of the street.
All celebration aside, I have to make clear that just because the final dress rehearsal was a shamble leaving the opening night clear for success, this does not mean that all subsequent performances will be in the clear, as evidenced by our second performance.
To be brief, here are some things that didn't go as planned:
The maestro forgot his shoes. He conducted the show in his socks. I'm not kidding. At least he had his pants...
The soprano, instead of unhooking her costume string of pearls and tossing them down, tore them from her neck, scattering little pearl pellets all over the stage, and raining pinging pearl drops into the pit.
Same soprano nearly tore her wig off trying to remove a costumed hat during a scene...I'll refer to my earlier blog comment on the non-rocketscience-mindedness of some singers.
Another soprano was nearly blinded by the costume dresser I also mentioned in my previous blog. There's nothing less productive than instead of helping a singer get dressed in the dark, you poke her in the eye right before she re-enters the stage, blinding her so she can't see the stage manager giving her a cue to enter...
So, note to all you dressers out there: do not poke a singer in the eye. it helps no one.
-v
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