Saturday, August 26, 2006
Death Becomes Her: Performance Number Twelve
Another rather bloody ending to the show tonight... I'll take full responsibility for this one.
We had a moderate sized house tonight and a sound show. When we've had several very strong shows in a row, it feels a little anti-climactic when one doesn't quite have that special something, but our audience was still very positive and glowing in their comments as they left, and our post-show debrief did well to remind me that there really were many very successful moments in the performance. Our energy as a cast felt a little down tonight comparatively, and we also had some difficulties getting in sync with the band on several occasions. In short, the show felt a little anxious--which isn't perhaps surprising as this was our initial emotion offer! (Maybe we're all becoming a little too "method"!)
Act one introduced us to the usual oddball array of audience-inspired characters. Mark played Richard, a young unsuccessul tractor salesman whose anxious girlfriend dreamed of honeymoons while his boss, Pico, craved a competent worker. Darren was Bill, a man whose house was thrown into turmoil as his motorcycle-riding father tried to pull him away from his all-knowing wife and light-footed seventeen-year-old daughter, Bethany. Kate played Chivon, a service woman living in the barracks with three girlfriends who all seemed to inadvertantly thwart her ambitions for success. I took on the role of Scott (or was it Bob?), a compulsive liar who finally decided to reveal his true name and identity to his girlfriend, Sharon, in the hopes of gaining some much-needed distance from his roommate, Graham, and his estranged mother, Gloria. Some highlights from the first act were Mark's great searching solo to his girlfriend, Darren's playful trio with his wife and daughter, Kate's amazingly full-voiced "Potential" song as Chivon, and Jim's tough challenge to me with the song "Sherry" (Sharon?) as my final solo of the act. He really had me reaching for some high notes there!
Scott (or was it Bob?) became our focus for the second act as he tried to reconnect with his now lost love, Kate's Sharon. Mark's mother, Gloria, emerged as a fantastic villainess and enlisted the help of Corporal Gwen, a young woman with particularly dangerous fingers. As Scott searched high and low for his love, this evil duo jabbed him at every turn, until the show climaxed in a mother/son shank face-off. I particularly enjoyed singing a Sondheim-esque number with Jim on the keyboards as I begged Sharon to answer my calls. Mark and Darren also had a wonderfully playful villain duet, and Mark later provided a great show stopper as his seventeen-year-old daughter character. I also really enjoyed the energy of our confrontation song at the end of the act, and Kate and Darren provided a great unexpected love connection in the background as Mark and I slowly sung our last bloody but tuneful notes on the forestage.
Gina's quotable quote of the night (the speaker wishes to remain anonymous): "I feel the floodgates of love filling up and I want to spill them all over you."
Mark, Jim and I are performing an excerpt of the show for the Red Chair function this evening. That should be interesting... (Just how exactly do you provide an excerpt of an improvised musical?!?!)
If those 10:00pm shows have been a little late for you, remember that September Sunday 2:00 matinees are just around the corner.
Your the-only-thing-better-than-FourPlay-twice-a-weekend-is-FourPlay-thrice-a-weekend Director, David C.
Another rather bloody ending to the show tonight... I'll take full responsibility for this one.
We had a moderate sized house tonight and a sound show. When we've had several very strong shows in a row, it feels a little anti-climactic when one doesn't quite have that special something, but our audience was still very positive and glowing in their comments as they left, and our post-show debrief did well to remind me that there really were many very successful moments in the performance. Our energy as a cast felt a little down tonight comparatively, and we also had some difficulties getting in sync with the band on several occasions. In short, the show felt a little anxious--which isn't perhaps surprising as this was our initial emotion offer! (Maybe we're all becoming a little too "method"!)
Act one introduced us to the usual oddball array of audience-inspired characters. Mark played Richard, a young unsuccessul tractor salesman whose anxious girlfriend dreamed of honeymoons while his boss, Pico, craved a competent worker. Darren was Bill, a man whose house was thrown into turmoil as his motorcycle-riding father tried to pull him away from his all-knowing wife and light-footed seventeen-year-old daughter, Bethany. Kate played Chivon, a service woman living in the barracks with three girlfriends who all seemed to inadvertantly thwart her ambitions for success. I took on the role of Scott (or was it Bob?), a compulsive liar who finally decided to reveal his true name and identity to his girlfriend, Sharon, in the hopes of gaining some much-needed distance from his roommate, Graham, and his estranged mother, Gloria. Some highlights from the first act were Mark's great searching solo to his girlfriend, Darren's playful trio with his wife and daughter, Kate's amazingly full-voiced "Potential" song as Chivon, and Jim's tough challenge to me with the song "Sherry" (Sharon?) as my final solo of the act. He really had me reaching for some high notes there!Scott (or was it Bob?) became our focus for the second act as he tried to reconnect with his now lost love, Kate's Sharon. Mark's mother, Gloria, emerged as a fantastic villainess and enlisted the help of Corporal Gwen, a young woman with particularly dangerous fingers. As Scott searched high and low for his love, this evil duo jabbed him at every turn, until the show climaxed in a mother/son shank face-off. I particularly enjoyed singing a Sondheim-esque number with Jim on the keyboards as I begged Sharon to answer my calls. Mark and Darren also had a wonderfully playful villain duet, and Mark later provided a great show stopper as his seventeen-year-old daughter character. I also really enjoyed the energy of our confrontation song at the end of the act, and Kate and Darren provided a great unexpected love connection in the background as Mark and I slowly sung our last bloody but tuneful notes on the forestage.
Gina's quotable quote of the night (the speaker wishes to remain anonymous): "I feel the floodgates of love filling up and I want to spill them all over you."
Mark, Jim and I are performing an excerpt of the show for the Red Chair function this evening. That should be interesting... (Just how exactly do you provide an excerpt of an improvised musical?!?!)
If those 10:00pm shows have been a little late for you, remember that September Sunday 2:00 matinees are just around the corner.
Your the-only-thing-better-than-FourPlay-twice-a-weekend-is-FourPlay-thrice-a-weekend Director, David C.
