I’ve had auditions for the past two nights for “Little Shop of Horrors,” the show that I will be helming for the next few months (slated to open October 7th). I had a good turn-out of folks … and that’s all well and good … but what has thrown a monkey wrench into the works has been the absence of the Music Director at the auditions.

See … his wife gave birth on Friday, but the baby had to be delivered via cesarean section. Needless to say, she is not feeling 100%. Baby is fine. Wife isn’t. I know it’s gonna sound very insensitive of me to bitch that he didn’t make it to the auditions because of all this … but the man is gonna get paid a decent amount of money for “music directing.” It’s thrown a whole kink into my planned schedule.

Kinda hard to cast a musical with no music director.

So …. what this means is that I now have to track him down, watch the “musical-portion-of-the-auditions” tape with him before any decisions can be made. This stresses me out ’cause it’s gonna be a few days before I know for sure who the cast is gonna be. I hate making the folks that auditioned wait to hear the news. I have been in that position and as the days drag by you just tear yourself up about “did I or didn’t I” make it into the show.

My left arm and chest are now all achey and I have a headache. I really shouldn’t be stressing out this much about this. The world ain’t gonna end … yet.~

The past two weeks had made me really question just why I wanted to be in the summer musical at the local theater. Oh, yeah! I hadn’t sung on stage in 2-1/2 years. That’s why. But, 2-1/2 years will make you forget about what a pain it can be. 2-1/2 years will make you forget about working in a show with lots of kids. 2-1/2 years will make you forget about how unorganized a show this big can become. 2-1/2 years will make you forget about those ego clashes that will eventually happen when you get 50+ actors together in one place. Gosh. Only two complete run-throughs of the show and we’ll have an audience. I still think we’re gonna crash and burn.

Last night the cast for “Glengarry Glen Ross” got together at my place to run lines, munch on some pizza and drink some cheap-ass beer. I, as usual, had a little but too much of the cheapy, cheapy and am feeling a little more than tired and put out today. Man, I need to cut that shit out. The Cowboy Homer did make me smile. It’s the little things that make life fun.

Forrest, Roomie’s Woman, Roomie …

Michael, Steve, Strother …

and Myself.

Well, our show didn’t win at competition this past weekend. Kinda a bummer, but it means that we won’t have to worry about it again in March when SCTC hits. The show that beat us was good. I don’t think that we should feel bad about not continuing forward. I did, however, receive “Best Actor” at the competition. Pretty sweet!

I was in the Post Office a little earlier today to get stamps and get some bills mailed. While I was sticking the stamps an older gentleman (who I don’t know from Adam) came over and started talking to me about “Sweeney Todd.” He asked if attendance had been better, and I said it had pick up since the first weekend. He then proceeded to tell me about how he had no idea why we picked “Sweeney Todd.” I was informed that he thought the show was “abysmal” … that was the word he used … and that all the folks sitting around him hated it as well. He then launched into how he and his wife went to Flat Rock Playhouse all the time and that we should be more like them. I guess that means we should perform the same ole tried and true shows that every other group in the area does. I can’t even count the number of time crap like the “The 1940’s Radio Hour” has been done in WNC. Geez. He proceeded to tell me that I shouldn’t take it personally. Fucker.

~

It’s big! It’s huge! It’s highlights from Act One of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” [20 MB]

Well, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is all over but the crying. We have completed the first weekend of the show and have two more to go. The audiences seemed to like the show even if they were a little thin compared to other shows we have done. Speculation is that our usual Florida folks (a big chunk of our regular audience) aren’t around as they are all off dealing with the hurricanes and such. Some also say the subject matter may be keeping people away as well. Ah, who cares. We kick ass! And now for the crying part … all my director’s fee will be going towards the bills that have piled up from my little medical adventure in June. Grrrrr. Expect a video clip with highlighs from Act I of the show sometime in the next few days. Act II Highlights should appear sometime next week. Whoo.

Ah, the mayhem of opening a show. Last night the Cosmotology students from HCC came in and did make-up for the cast. Apparently they have “stage make-up” as one of their classes and hooked up with us for the practice. Talk about making things crazy (but fun) at the last minute. We have about 30 watching the final dress rehearsal, and things could have gone better. “Sweeney Todd” is one of those shows that moves so damn fast that it can get away from you before you know it. Some pretty major musical fuck-ups happened reminding everyone that concentration is of the utmost importance. So, we move on to the “opening” crowd tonight and some much deserved cheap booze and blood filled pastries.