KlezNut Finale
Jan. 2nd, 2009 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerReturned Jan. 1 after 3 days off to find the cast strangely decimated: Lindsay, who plays Cousin Rachel/Peacock, collapsed (before her first show) with flu, and so Cadien from the Vital office (who's a terrific actress) has rushed in to play Rachel & one of the Demons' deceptive dancing dreydls; Bethany, a dancer who was also my cover (and one of the peacock's tailfeathers), has taken over as the Peacock, and is very good. The rest of the tailfeathers are working extra-hard as a result; their focus is terrific. Without Lindsay we are also now down one Queen of Sheba Attendant, but the other 2 are seamlessly picking up her lines. (Oh, and my Golden Dreydl had sprung a leak: when I whipped it out from under my cloak, the handle nearly pulled right out of the thing! Spinning it was....interesting. Poor wee thing; it's had a hard life. All fixed today, though.) But what I pardonably thought (and everyone else hoped) was merely hangovers from a bunch of hard-partying 20-something turns out today to be rampaging flu. I came into the Green Room this morning and found grey-faced folks lying on the couches with blankets, waiting for the assistant to return with the Thera-flu - "Welcome to Klezmer I.C.U." said our witty lad, Alan (who claims he sweated his fever out last night, and is now "85% well;" he got to improvise a solo Demon Dance, replacing Bethany & Lindsay's duet. It involves butt-shaking, and is very popular with the kids). Bethany is wretched, and Danielle, who plays Sara and is onstage pretty much the entire hour, could barely speak or get into her costume before the show. The amazing thing is how well she did once she got onstage: her voice was strong, her energy was a little less then normal, but not so an audience would notice - and the other actors did their best to cover for her in little ways. It is really interesting to watch how shaking everyone up can change the energy - keeps reminding me of Henry Breedlove in Slings & Arrows Season 2 - some of it's rocky, some of it's brilliant - but it's all interesting.
Tomorrow are our last 2 performances. I think I will be quite sad when it is over. And all the little routines & survival practices I've developed over the last 4 weeks: timing my walk to the theatre, what to eat between shows, toting my silly bag with makeup and emergency rations and the fantastic "bling" Anne Bobby gave me to wear onstage, the 2 shirts I alternate keeping clean as they fit under the red dress . . . all will be over and useless - like European travel, for me, where one minute you're lost without your Euros and Metro Cards and Maps, and the next you're on a plane paying for drinks in dollars, with that other stuff useless at the bottom of your bag . . . . Not only am I used to travel, but I never stick at any routine for long. No one month is ever like another for me. So it won't be a terrible wrench. But of course, it will be hard to lose the collegiality of the show. I hate the thought that my beloved director will be having intense script meetings with Another Girl. HOWEVER, there are many more projects awaiting me - and some even have to do with Theatre! I will be focused. I will not be lazy. I will start another novel. I will set up a reading for Elizabeth's revisions on "Witches of Lublin." I will get back to "Bone Chandelier." I will, I will, I will.
During my 3 days off, I actually got a lot done (between naps & cups of tea with honey for the cold I really did have): an essay on my friendship & professional relationship with John Bellairs for NESFA Press's forthcoming omnibus on his adult work, and revisions on a new short story I've just sold - more on both of these later. Oh, and really enjoyed the Fanfic discussion that got going from my last post; I'll have more to say on that, soon, too, I hope.
The other thing that's been happening is a huge amount of socializing, which I have not been marking down here - but after almost every show there have been friends to go out for drinks/burgers/coffee with (depending on time of day), or to bring back here for tea. Many friends have come from out of town to visit and to see the show - I thought about listing them all here, but it might give you palpitations; Hotel Chateau Riverside has been a revolving door - our finest hour was last weekend, when (after a dinner for friends on the 25th heroically cooked by Delia - claiming she felt much better and was perfectly up to it, since she'd been in bed all the previous day!) Rosemary & her sister came Friday night (they slept in the guest bed, while Melana, our Dreydl Princess from the show, who had flown in that day from Xmas with her family in Louisiana for the evening show, slept on the couch so that she didn't have to take the hour+ subway ride back to Brooklyn that night to return again at 10 the next morning); 2 shows on Saturday, and our friends the Brombergs - all 5 of them - slept here that night (while we went out with Dan & Pat to see Women Beware Women, which is fabulous!!!); next day 2 more performances & Anne slept here on her way back to Boston.
See why I took Monday off?
And that's enough narrative for now. I have to go and put together presents for the cast. With love.
Isn't it lovely to be in a new year? I hope that all of yours are very happy.
Tomorrow are our last 2 performances. I think I will be quite sad when it is over. And all the little routines & survival practices I've developed over the last 4 weeks: timing my walk to the theatre, what to eat between shows, toting my silly bag with makeup and emergency rations and the fantastic "bling" Anne Bobby gave me to wear onstage, the 2 shirts I alternate keeping clean as they fit under the red dress . . . all will be over and useless - like European travel, for me, where one minute you're lost without your Euros and Metro Cards and Maps, and the next you're on a plane paying for drinks in dollars, with that other stuff useless at the bottom of your bag . . . . Not only am I used to travel, but I never stick at any routine for long. No one month is ever like another for me. So it won't be a terrible wrench. But of course, it will be hard to lose the collegiality of the show. I hate the thought that my beloved director will be having intense script meetings with Another Girl. HOWEVER, there are many more projects awaiting me - and some even have to do with Theatre! I will be focused. I will not be lazy. I will start another novel. I will set up a reading for Elizabeth's revisions on "Witches of Lublin." I will get back to "Bone Chandelier." I will, I will, I will.
During my 3 days off, I actually got a lot done (between naps & cups of tea with honey for the cold I really did have): an essay on my friendship & professional relationship with John Bellairs for NESFA Press's forthcoming omnibus on his adult work, and revisions on a new short story I've just sold - more on both of these later. Oh, and really enjoyed the Fanfic discussion that got going from my last post; I'll have more to say on that, soon, too, I hope.
The other thing that's been happening is a huge amount of socializing, which I have not been marking down here - but after almost every show there have been friends to go out for drinks/burgers/coffee with (depending on time of day), or to bring back here for tea. Many friends have come from out of town to visit and to see the show - I thought about listing them all here, but it might give you palpitations; Hotel Chateau Riverside has been a revolving door - our finest hour was last weekend, when (after a dinner for friends on the 25th heroically cooked by Delia - claiming she felt much better and was perfectly up to it, since she'd been in bed all the previous day!) Rosemary & her sister came Friday night (they slept in the guest bed, while Melana, our Dreydl Princess from the show, who had flown in that day from Xmas with her family in Louisiana for the evening show, slept on the couch so that she didn't have to take the hour+ subway ride back to Brooklyn that night to return again at 10 the next morning); 2 shows on Saturday, and our friends the Brombergs - all 5 of them - slept here that night (while we went out with Dan & Pat to see Women Beware Women, which is fabulous!!!); next day 2 more performances & Anne slept here on her way back to Boston.
See why I took Monday off?
And that's enough narrative for now. I have to go and put together presents for the cast. With love.
Isn't it lovely to be in a new year? I hope that all of yours are very happy.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 03:17 am (UTC)from Yolen
Date: 2009-01-04 02:35 am (UTC)Jane
Re: from Yolen
Date: 2009-01-04 03:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 01:54 pm (UTC)Thrilled to bits that you've also discovered Slings and Arrows. Season one was the best, imo, but 2 and 3 have their charms. I'd be interested to see what they'd do for a 4th season -- but it seems unlikely to happen.