Stars!

We opened last night to a packed house. We were blessed with a wonderful audience who helped us make the show a hit.

We had to be at the theater at 6 PM even though the curtain wasn’t until 8 PM. We used the time to put on our makeup and costumes, to do some voice exercises, get last minute directions from our wonderful director and to try and loosen up. Some of our friends called and left a message on the cell phone that I picked up about an hour before the curtain. They passed the phone around and wished us broken legs. It was wonderful! We were quite touched.

I was not very loose. I was, in fact, a very tight bundle of nerves. The only thing that was loose was my bladder. I had to pee every 5 minutes. I decided to only sip my water when my throat was so dry that I was choking. I used my costume change to pee and was able to make it until the end of the play. Thank goodness there is a toilet in the dressing room!

I had packed some Acetaminophen, Valium® (generic Diazepam), Immodium® and throat lozenges. I was ready for anything!

I make my first entry rather early in the play. I am in what we are calling the Flamingo costume. The local paper took my picture wearing it on Monday and it appeared in Friday’s paper. Here’s a URL http://www.valleymorningstar.com/articles/2006/01/27/rio_living/rio_living1.txt
If it’s not there when you look, I can send you a .pdf file I made of the website.

I was behind the curtains near where I had to stand just before my entrance. My heart was pounding so hard that I was certain the audience could hear it above their laughter. The two characters on stage were doing wonderfully, generating laughs and hitting their lines square on. I was happy, excited, anxious and very, very nervous. I thought about downing a Valium® but nixed the idea. Live or die; I was determined to do it without chemicals.

I made my entrance to laughter. I executed my lines with flair. I didn’t drop any lines and I managed to time the delivery with the audience laughter even though we hadn’t practiced it.

My next appearance is late in Act II and I am in a different costume. It’s a green jump and white print Spandex® suit with bell-bottoms and a halter top. It is tied so tightly that my breasts are pushed up and rounded. Does the word “floozy” bring a picture to your mind? Around my waste is a green sash that I need in a later scene where I enter with beer cans stuffed into the sash. Do the words “boozy floozy” bring a picture to your mind? My earrings are huge loopy things with lots of little, green discs hanging from various parts of them. Outrageous! My hair is still in blue curlers and tied with a piece of pink tulle. I am still wearing the socks with the ruffled tops and the big, pink slippers with the piggie faces that I wore in Act I. I look (and feel) as though I am about to pop out of the costume.

I entered in that costume to hilarity. I had to try really hard to ignore the audience and concentrate on my lines and the action in the play. I did. I said my monolog and it was very funny. No one else missed their lines and I was dead on with mine. By Act III I actually found myself so immersed in the role that I didn’t even have to think of the cues. I just reacted to the action and talk on the stage and my lines were perfect.

On stage, before a real audience, it all came together. The weeks of rehearsals, the changes in the script, the changes in blocking... it all happened and it looked good. We have five more performances and I hope we do as well.