"It seems odd, doesn't it?"

Last night I went to a final dress rehearsal to see friends in "Yeomen of the Guard" [Note: YeomEn, not YeomAn, ad in the local paper notwithstanding] because their run exactly and completely conflicts with the rest of Mikado - I'm on stage when they are. It was strange - no audience, aside from the director, choreographer, a couple of friends/family members taking pictures (with permission, of course), the company's artistic director, and myself, all sprinkled about the theater or, in the case of one of the photographers, wandering from side to side depending on the stage action. I missed not hearing the reactions of others in the theater, which always adds to the energy, not to mention that it felt very weird to be able to tell my clapping from anyone else's.

Adding to the strangeness was that this was a rehearsal, so the orchestra stopped a few times so the MD could correct or clarify something, in one case doing so right in the middle of a climactic moment on stage. The poor principals had rather a time recovering their composure because they had to resume in such an awkward place. There were some lighting cues out of synch, at one point so badly that the director had to have a chat with the person(s) on the lightboard, and a prop that appeared a bit early, which I knew because of the director's comment to the person responsible.

However, all that aside, I found much to like in the performance. "Yeomen" is the sole G&S work that attempts to be serious at least in part (there's a serious storyline alongside the comedy) and it has a deliberately ambiguous ending which is, however, unambiguously serious. I don't know this show very well - I've done it once, and this is only the first time I've been in the audience, although I've seen it discussed at length on Savoynet. This company did a few things a bit differently than I'd expected, without doing any injury to the text of the show. I particularly enjoyed the way the director treated the comedy, including a couple of unexpected twists that made the Phoebe-Wilfrid pairing more palatable.

I did get to go backstage at intermission and say hello, which is always nice, and congratulate folks on the way things were going at that point. The role of Jack Point was double cast and I would have liked to see the other Jack as well, but at least I got to see something.