Monday, February 23, 2009

Les Miserables - Second Weekend

We had a great second weekend. We started off with the CoProducer performance on Thursday night - a private show for a small audience, and the cast performed well. This was a good "warm-up" for the weekend - it was also the first time they had performed with some time off. Friday and Saturday night audience were strong, full and receptive. Both nights, we had a waiting list of people at the door in case there were available tickets - this is a good reminder that even if the show is "sold out" you should still come on down and try to get in. The cast was very upbeat and positive this weekend, and did a great job with their performances. Many singers had the vocal rest they needed after the long tech rehearsal week, but we also had some other health issues - an actor with pneumonia who toughed out the weekend, and Javert was hurt at the barricade on Friday night and performed Saturday with a split lip. However, in both of these cases, the actors understood the importance of the big picture and performed professionally. My strongest memory of the weekend will be intermission of Saturday night. I was backstage and heard the audience's applause when the curtain came down - it was an amazing sound. Small moments like that make all the effort worthwhile...

We have a slightly longer layoff this week - our last show was Saturday night, and our next show is Friday night. This means five full days away from the show. This upcoming weekend, we have our regular Friday and Saturday night shows, along with a Sunday afternoon matinee - this will be our first afternoon performance. It's also ReachOut and Pay-What-You-Can: ReachOut is a program geared toward groups of the mentally, physically and economically challenged, and Pay-What-You-Can allows people to pay at the door (no advance reservations) whatever they want (minimum $1) for a ticket - hopefully, opening the door to some people who might not otherwise visit our theatre.

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