Halfway there

That's one Ruddigore weekend down, one to go. Friday's house was quite small, but appreciative and surprisingly vocal for a Friday night crowd. (They tend to be quiet - probably tired at the end of the work week.) Saturday's crowd was nearly twice as large, and also vocal. Both nights the crowds didn't just chuckle, they laughed appreciatively at all the jokes; they're welcome to come back any time.

Sunday's audience was the largest because that was the "student outreach" matinee - a paying adult could bring one or two students for free and they got a backstage tour (first time I've had an "audience" in the dressing room!) and a post-show Q&A with the directors & principals. They were another vocally appreciative audience, and even applauded a couple of bits of business, not just the Act II dance number where we expected applause. The Q&A was rather sparsely attended, probably because by then it was snowing heavily, but I'm sure the die-hards who stayed felt they'd more than gotten their money's worth.

I'll have to get pics of my costume - it's one of the prettiest ones I've worn, and the costumer confided to me that it's one of her favorites of those on stage. A friend who came Saturday night also commented on my pretty dress and fetching hat. The "dress" is actually several pieces - blouse, skirt, overskirt & sash, worn over a bustle and petticoat. That's a lot of pieces to assemble, in addition to the usual drill w/ hair & make-up. Yesterday was the first time I was actually completely ready before the overture started - Thursday & Friday I had only done hair & make-up, no costume yet, when they called "places", and Saturday I had just begun to don my costume when "places" was called. I had been rolling my hair to give it some body before putting it up under the hat, but given how much assembly the costume requires, I may forget about the rollers.

This week I've been doing some of the "finishing" I always enjoy: made a reticule for Dame Hannah, cut down & hemmed the length of tartan Mad Margaret wears in her first scene, bought & attached trim to Rose's overskirt, trimmed countless stray threads from various people's costumes, hemmed my skirt and finished my sleeves w/ lace "harvested" from one of the men's shirts. (He didn't want lace on his sleeves, mine needed finishing, there was just enough lace - it was meant to be.) Oh, and the usual lending - a cameo and a dress liner to Dame Hannah, hatpins to 4 of the ladies, my curling irons for general use.

Given how I'm always doing this kind of tweaking, and how I enjoy getting a costume "look" just so, I suppose it was inevitable that I'd costume a show myself. Not completely by myself, because the director is herself an experienced costumer and has some pretty definite ideas of what she wants, and the producer is an experienced costumer and has offered her services if I get stuck. But still - it'll be my name on the program for costume design! Shouldn't hurt my resume any, especially if audience members actually notice the costumes in a good way.