Barely time to catch my breath

Whew! Between Ruddigore & Birdie, I had 4 rehearsal nights last week. Saturday was the start of Tech Week for Ruddigore, and a very busy day indeed. Post office to mail another box to TW (socks, munchies, phone cards); then the fabric store for the makings of a burlap bag for Dame Hannah's kidnapping and a "hump" for Old Adam/Gideon Crawle; theater for the Sitzprobe (I took my sewing machine so I could work when I didn't have to sing); 1.25-hour drive to Birdie rehearsal; 5:30 Mass; quick jumbo slice of plain pizza before taking in Much Ado About Nothing. All-female cast, and most of them were very good. Interesting concept (the director apparently had so very many talented women audition that he decided to go w/ the all-female cast); the director set it during WWII and added a 4-piece combo to play for the feast, at which there was dancing, and inserted music elsewhere.

So now Ruddigore is in Tech. We got our first look at the set last night; only worked some Act I things, but the director seemed pretty happy w/ what we accomplished, and we were dismissed by 10:10 - early for Tech Week! Tonight is cue-to-cue; nobody's favorite, but a necessary evil. No telling whether we'll manage rehearsal tomorrow night; the weather reports have been full of a "winter storm watch" since Thursday and this morning they started talking about ice, sleet and freezing rain along w/ the snow. I don't mind snow, but that icy stuff is bad news! I'm sure our director is praying for snow only; so am I.

This is when the magic starts to happen for me: the set is coming together ("watch out for the paint on that flat!" "coming thru with the Genie!"), the costumes are being hemmed & fitted, the accessories decided on ("hmm, what should I do w/ my hair under this hat?"), prowling the set to see how the real thing is going to affect entrances, exits and placement. I just love it!

The pit piano we're using for rehearsal until Wednesday was hideously tinny and out of tune last night; I don't know how our accompanist stood it. Can't wait till we get to work with the orchestra; our accompanist is wonderful but that piano is an instrument of torture!