"I like cheese"

"DING DONG THE WIZARD OF OZ IS DEAD!"

This lyric from the show "Between the Bricks" will NOT leave me be!!!! LOL!

It was an amazing week/weekend! God almighty!

Let me put it to you this way...I was the TD (Technical Director) and the light board operator for a new musical festival that went up in the West Village this past weekend. We seriously tech'd 11 shows in 2 days and then did one day of dress rehearsal for both and then BAM! Did 10 performances of those 11 shorts (5 performances each series as we put 5 shows in one and 6 in another...and no, we're not lopsided on purpose, we had to cut a show at the last minute due to...professional issues...normally its 6 and 6).

ANYHOO...

On Saturday alone...this was my day...

2am - Arrive home from show.
10am - Up and getting ready
11:45am - Off to the A-train
12noon - Now off to the 1-train since the A train is not running in my area for whatever fucked up reason the MTA has chosen this week
12:45pm - Arrive in West Village and boogy on over to the theater...to find out we have no power in our outlets backstage or light for the dressing room (its always some new electrical issue each day I arrive there! Ye gads!)...and its 30 minutes to our first show. Oh joy. No power for the rock band for first show...excellent. Fuck.
1:15pm - Stage Manager gets TD for theater on phone and electric issue fixed. YAY!
1:30pm-ish - Run 1st show of the day, Series A
3:30pm-ish - Run 2nd show of the day, Series B (by now I'm sweating, a lot...you would too if you were sitting in a tiny room with another person and like, 10 dimmer packs!
5:45pm to 6:30pm - Quick break where I snag producer's daughter to go eat a deli sandwich's with down by the water so as to get fresh air and try to NOT sweat more in our blessed humidity. Meet random stranger who talks dogs with us for half of our time out there. That's how NYC is! :)
6:30pm - Back at the HOT theater...sweating my ass off...again
7pm-ish - Run Show 3, Series A
9pm-ish - Run Show 4, Series B (I am now so sweaty and gross, not to mention totally mentally exhausted to the point where I'm feeling a bit numb)...One would think at this point if I was smart I'd go home...but, well, I'm not smart...
11pm - In a cab on my way to a party to surprise a friend who's in town from SC. My "plan" is to stay for an hour. Plans are great aren't they? They make you feel like you're in control? Yeah...well...again...plans fail...
2:35am - On the corner with some guy I just met at the party and we're trying to hail a van-cab (cause the dude had a bike he needs to fit in the cab with us) so as to head home. Hey, I'll share a cab ride to save money in a heartbeat people! Might I say, we got one of those handicap vans...thing is friggin huge inside...felt like a limo...weird.
3:15am - Home and walking dog (or shall I say he walked me?) around the block
3:45am - Bed
10am - UP and ready to begin another day of almost the same shit...

On Sunday we only had two shows...and then awards. I'd like to say that I agreed with all of them, but I didn't. But, that's how it always is isn't it? Who all agreed with the Tony Awards last night? See? Point made. But there were many I did agree with so...it was worth waiting around for them.

I do want to say this; I was actually worried about running a huge MUSICAL festival. The drama that was BOUND to occur was going to be more than I honestly wanted to deal with. BUT, our 11 casts of folks (and trust me...that's a lot of actors!) were very professional and polite and easy to work with. I was floored! It was nice to see them all get along and NOT be drama-queens to each other. I never saw someone in tears (and trust me, that happens more than you know) or heard snippy attitudes (and it was hot enough in that dressing room to warrant some)...so a HUGE cudos to the casts of the shows! You impressed me...and that takes some doing after 8 years in NYC!

Congrats to Patrick and Katrina for a BEAUTIFUL ballet, "Annabel"! I don't have words for it other than every night when it ended it made my soul feel the pain of the main characters and yet it was so beautiful, I was in awe and smiling. To create all those emotions in a 12 minute ballet takes massive talent. Another congrats to my pal Celine Rosenthal for her award for writing "Hapless Romance"! When we had to cut a script from the show, near the start of the process, she stepped up and wrote one on the fly and directed the thing! It got awards for many things, including her writing so...HOORAY for YOU! :)

THAT said...I want to talk on one more thing...the main reason I stuck around for the awards. :) I wanted to see a particular show get its dues, and boy did it EVER! It took a total of 5 awards in its series! The show? "Polly Want a Morgage" written by one of my best friends, Michael Ruby, was a definite favorite of both those who came to see the festival AND those IN the festival! It was brilliant & hilarious! Catchy tunes that are STILL stuck in my head! I was happy to see the director win Honorable Mention for her Directing and then see one of the actors, Jay, win Best Actor for the series. Then, my heart sang as I watched Michael and his writing partner Rob take top honors for Best Lyrics, Best Book, and Best Overall Musical of their Series! Well Deserved! I will SO very miss that show...and hearing the parrot say..."I like cheese"! (you have to see it to get it, sorry)

Until next time...where I promise to get back to writing about my writing...

Tamsin :)

...sing with me now...."Put the shoe down Barry, Barry put the shoe down"... :)